Invulnerable Sade
by pacificatlantic
Summary: Sade's had a rather rough go so far. Living on an island of swimmers and unable to swim, exiled to live in the forest with only her sister and her puppy — eventually she's left with no better options than to join the Straw Hats! After all, the only thing worth ending a nap early is a grand adventure!
1. Turns Out She Had Nothing Better To Do

Having just set off from Arlong Park, the Straw Hats were all buzzing about heading to Loguetown. There was one pirate on board however, who was leaning against the railing, and looking out to sea with a furrowed brow. Sanji hummed again as he frowned and muttered, "What am I forgetting..?" He closed his eyes and rubbed at his brow.

"Oi! Shitty cook! You look like a moron doing that!" Zoro's shout echoed across the Merry, causing the crews' heads to turn to observe the inevitable conflict. His face was pulled into the worst sneer he could muster.

"What was that?! Moss head?!" Sanji completely dropped his contemplating in order to confront his least favourite crew member. "You look like a sea anemone doing tha - oh! Of course! I can't believe I almost forgot!" Sanji cut himself off mid-rant, and furiously shook his head, causing Zoro to sigh and roll his eyes as the fight was clearly forgotten.

Sanji ran off toward the figurehead, calling out for Luffy and Nami, and everyone followed him to find out what was going on. "Oi everyone, I have a favour to ask. I just remembered the island that the Baratie got a good amount of its top-class fish and seafood from is on the way to Loguetown! Can we stop there and pick up some supplies?" Sanji explained.

There was a short silence. A strange shiver seemed to pass through everyone (except Luffy) on board, before a slow and quiet chuckle began. As one, the crew woodenly turned their heads toward the sound, only to see Luffy perched on Merry's head, eyes shining like stars as he began to drool and laugh at the same time. "YOOOOOOSH! I've decided! Before we go to see Roger's island, we need to get as much fish as we can! Nami! Take us to the fish place! Full speed!"

And so, with a collective shrug, the crew set off as Nami checked her maps and had Usopp alter their course slightly while Luffy cackled in delight from his special seat.

* * *

About half a day later, Usopp called from the crow's nest that the island was in sight. They pulled right into the dock as Sanji had explained that the island's only source of income was the fish they exported, so they didn't care who they were selling it to. Apparently every citizen on the island was a "fish-diver", able to swim for long periods of time and even catch fish bare handed in the water. It was called Diver's Island.

As they disembarked and began walking into town, with Luffy singing and bouncing along in front of everyone. Looking ahead, Nami tried to give a shout of warning to him as he was heading for a huge collision. But of course, Luffy crashed straight into the giant wooden pole in the middle of the road. "Oi oi! What's this? Why's there a pole here?" Luffy muttered, backing up and placing a hand on his hat as he looked up to see the top of the pole.

"It's a giant sign..?" Usopp asked as he looked up to read it, and as he did, his legs began to quake and he let out a small whimper before he squeaked out, "Guys, I don't think I can keep going into this island, I have the must-stay-on-the-Merry disease again!" He turned to run, but Zoro scoffed and grabbed the back of his shirt. "Don't be such a wuss!"

"Yeah Usopp, it'll be fine as long as we stay on the road and go straight to town!" Nami declared, though there was sweat on her brow, because the giant sign in front of them clearly said in huge letters: DEADLY MONSTER IN FOREST. DO NOT ENTER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

* * *

"A place where no one's allowed to go to? Under any circumstances? I smell an adventure at hand! Sanji! Go get as much meat as you can! I'm going to go see the monster! Maybe it's delicious? Maybe it's strong? Maybe it'll join our crew? I'm so excited!" Luffy yelled and began to head straight into the forest off the main road.

Zoro sighed as Nami called his name, "Ah, I'll follow him and keep him out of trouble. You guys get the fish." Usopp and Nami practically melted in relief and followed quickly after Sanji as he set off toward town.

As Zoro caught up to Luffy, he rolled his eyes as he heard Sanji yelling about keeping Nami safe. "Hoo hoo! Zoro! What kind of monster do you think it is?" Luffy grinned at his first mate. Zoro rested his hand on his swords and drawled, "I don't know but I hope it puts up a good fight!"

They headed deeper into the forest as Luffy began his adventure cries, "Monster, monster! Meat, meat! Adventure in the forest with a monster!" Zoro strolled casually next to him, though kept his eyes moving around the trees so they wouldn't be caught by an ambush. Almost an hour later, Luffy was starting to become bored and was about to start complaining when there came a yell of, "BoooOOOoo! You found the monster! Raw! Growl!" and a head popped out from the tree branches just above them, showering the boys with leaves.

Luffy and Zoro jumped back, with the latter reaching for his swords when they both froze suddenly. "Hey, Zoro? Since when do monsters actually say 'growl'?" Luffy asked, turning to his companion and completely ignoring the situation. Zoro just shrugged and as they turned back to the monster, there was a squeak and a girl crashed to the ground from the tree.

She quickly shot up and turned to face them, brushing leaves from herself and laughing, "Ooh it's pretty rare when they don't run immediately! You guys must be strong, huh?" She grinned brightly at them and they stopped to take her in. She was a little shorter than Luffy, but she looked to be around their age. She had bright green eyes and dark, steel grey hair that shimmered almost blue in the sun, it didn't quite meet her shoulders and puffed out around her head in messy spikes that fluttered in the wind. She wore loose black shorts, and a loose black spaghetti-strap crop top that showed some of her belly and bits of the turquoise sports bra she wore underneath. Around her waist she had a belt with two small pouches attached, and her feet were totally bare. But perhaps the most striking thing about her appearance was all the jewelry she wore. She had several hoop earrings in each ear, an armband, a bracelet, several rings around her fingers, and even anklets and a few toe rings. As she reached up to scratch the back of her head, she pulled around one of two long braids that split off from the rest of her hair in the back, reaching almost to her bottom. Each braid had a golden chain winding through it as well. Zoro wanted to think that meant she was rich, but it all looked like really bad quality. While all her jewelry was definitely gold, it was all very primitive in design, lumpy and wonky in some places, and a little banged up, too.

"Hey! What are you doing? I thought you were the monster! I wanted to go on an adventure!" Luffy relaxed and began complaining to the girl. Zoro relaxed slightly next to him, though he kept one hand on his swords, ever at the ready.

"Oh sorry sorry! I heard you yelling throughout the forest about monsters and adventures, and I thought it would be such a let-down for you if you got all the way through without seeing a monster, so I figured I'd try to at least give you a scare," the girl shrugged.

Luffy grinned back at her. "Well you really got me for a second! But where's the real monster? I want to find it!" At that, the girl looked down a little.

"Sorry guys, that sign is actually referring to me, I'm sort of exiled out here and the townspeople decided they needed a sign. I'm the only monster in this forest. But I do feel bad when travelers miss out on getting to see a real monster, so I tend to at least try to give them a scare. Usually works, too," she kicked one foot across the ground as she explained, looking away from Luffy's face as he began to look more and more crushed. Zoro blinked in confusion at the idea that someone exiled from their town to live in the forest would then go to the trouble of essentially entertaining tourists. When he asked her about it, however, she just gave him a blank look and shrugged.

"If I'm the reason the sign is there, I'm responsible for making sure the people who look for one find one, right?" At this Zoro froze. _She's just like Luffy! She hasn't thought it through at all!_ And of course, Luffy (who had been sulking on the floor) seemed to notice this at the same time, because he brightened immediately and shot up off the floor.

"Well, oh well! Are you a strong monster? What's your name? Since you appreciate a good adventure too, join my crew! I'm Luffy! I'm going to be King of the Pirates! This is Zoro!" He yelled at her rapidly, eyes twinkling, though to Zoro's surprise she seemed to be nodding along and following his insane speech. When he stopped to hear her response, she looked contemplative for a moment before responding, "I am pretty strong. My name is Sade, and I could join your crew, but-"

Mid-way through her response, there was a loud _snap! _that echoed through the forest, and Sade rapidly turned, her eyes lighting up with fury and she darted away, throwing a quick apology over her shoulder as she disappeared into the trees. Luffy and Zoro made to follow her, but quickly lost sight of her. "She's fast," Zoro commented, slightly impressed. _Did I see her feet glow just now? Or was that a trick of the light? _He thought to himself, but before he could think too much on it Luffy distracted him.

"Oi Zoro! I want her on the crew!" Luffy told him, grinning widely. "Yeah, yeah, we can go find her later. For right now, let's go find the crew and we can go get her together. Look, I can see the town," Zoro pointed through the trees and began to head toward civilization. _I'll just worry about it later, _he decided, and promptly forgot all about the girl's strange feet.

* * *

As Luffy and Zoro walked into town, they looked around to see fish shops everywhere. Luffy was drooling almost constantly, and only Zoro's reminder that Sanji was already getting fish for them convinced Luffy to walk past all the food. Well, that and Zoro's iron grip on his arm. The townspeople were also interesting; they all had hair and eyes that were some shade of blue or green, and most everyone they saw had jewelry on like Sade's. Only theirs looked professionally done, intricately carved and detailed. As they took in the island, the boys eventually ran into the rest of the crew as they exited a nearby store. Sanji and Usopp were weighed down by tons of bags, and Nami strolled ahead of them, carrying nothing as usual.

"Oi Nami, I hope you're not going to cause us any trouble with all this gold everywhere," Zoro announced himself to the group. Sanji immediately launched himself at Zoro and they started a small scuffle that fortunately stopped as Nami pouted.

"No, I can't steal it! I asked one of the people around here and apparently, though every single person in this town that is working age works as a fish-diver, most of them can also make that gold jewelry on the side. It's not for sale anywhere though because the purpose of the jewelry is to express care for one another." Here, Nami rolled her eyes. When she saw Luffy's blank look, she continued. "In other words, if someone here makes a piece of jewelry, the sole reason is to give it to a loved one, making them all precious symbols. Even I'm not heartless enough to steal someone's treasure." Nami cried, and as she finished she fell down as a dark cloud formed above her head.

"It's killing her though," Usopp whispered on the side, waving his hand in front of his face, and Zoro sweat-dropped as he heard Nami muttering about how she must be the most kind-hearted thief in the world. Luffy just laughed blithely.

"Nami-san! I would make you so much love jewelry that you would be encased in gold!" Sanji yelled, twirling around rapidly and attracting several looks from passersby.

"Guys guys that's cool and all, but I have important news!" Luffy announced, gaining everyone's attention as he proudly brought his hands to his hips. "We have a new friend! Her name is Sade! She loves adventures, so we're taking her with us! But first we have to go get her because she ran off into the forest. Let's go!" He yelled, and charged out of town, with the others running after him, in varying states of distress or resignation. However, none of the crew missed the incensed looks they received from the locals when they heard Luffy yelling about being Sade's friend. Sanji and Zoro tensed, and kept a wary eye out as they ran past the angry civilians.

As they reached the forest, Zoro caught the others up on the situation. But almost as soon as he finished, the crew heard a scream of despair and anger and pulled up short. "That's her voice!" Luffy yelled, and as one they changed course, running straight toward the scream even as Usopp trailed tears behind him.

* * *

_I can't believe I was stupid enough to let them get close to her again! _Sade continued to scold herself as she frantically used a stick to try and fish the trash out of the small lake she was leaning over, careful not to touch the murky water. Tears streamed from her face as the trash slipped away from her and drifted to the middle of the lake. Exhausted, she fell to her hands and knees, curling her hands into fists, she slammed her hands down on the red rock, screaming. She slammed her fists down again and again, unable to do anything else to relieve her frustration. "Useless! Useless! I'm always useless!" Through her wails, Sade heard a _snap! _as another one of her noise-making traps was set off at the tree line that surrounded her small lake. A loud snarl ripped from her as she turned to face the sound, teeth and nails beginning to lengthen. But just as she was gathering herself for another skirmish with the townspeople, she recognized Luffy's straw hat among the leaves.

Quickly reverting to her more-human form, Sade stood and waited for their arrival. As Luffy burst from the trees toward her, she studied the newcomers behind him that she'd never seen before, as she delicately sniffed the air to get a better sense of them. There was a blonde man in a suit, a woman with short orange hair, and a man who looked like he would already be running away if not for the iron grip that Zoro and the woman had on his arms. As the others paused to take in the scene around them, she didn't mind their disturbed faces, knowing that it was a gruesome sight — she didn't blame the terrified guy for wanting to bolt at all.

She stood in a clearing of trees that contained a small lake. The lake was murky, and it was easy to see that it was some sort of trash dump. The part that was grabbing the attention of the crew, however, was the bedrock surrounding the lake. It was absolutely covered in blood. In a perfect ring around the lake, blood stained the rocks a dark red colour, some of it even seeping into the lake and turning the water a light pink around the edges. Luffy of course was completely oblivious to this however, and happily made his way over to her, "Sade! There you are! What's going on? Aren't you joining my crew?"

"I'm sorry Luffy, I just —" Sade began to answer, running her hand through her hair but she was cut off from talking as her wrist was grasped by a gentle hand. Caught off guard, her eyes widened as she turned to look at Zoro who was frowning at the blood that fell from the scratches she had gotten from punching the rock. "Are you the one who bled all over this lake?" He asked, and Sanji couldn't even bring himself to yell at the swordsman for man-handling a woman as she hesitantly nodded.

Luffy finally took a moment to observe the scene once he saw her wounds. "Oi Sade, what's going on here? We're friends now, so how can we help?"

Sade had tugged her arm away from Zoro and was planning on turning them away, but she froze at Luffy's question. She spun so quickly that her neck cracked as she faced him. "Friends?" It came out as barely a whisper. "I've never had a real friend before…" Her breath was caught in her throat at the thought of finally having what she'd always wanted. Memories of her failed attempts at making friends played in her head, the other kids running away from her as she was growing up, the parents scorning her and leading their children away..

"Well we can't have that!" Sade was jolted out of her wandering thoughts as the only woman in Luffy's crew clasped her hands with hers, careful to avoid her injuries. "I'm so glad there's finally going to be another woman on the crew! I'm Nami, the navigator!"

"Sade-chan! What a beautiful name for such a beautiful creature! Oh but if only I could take the pain of your wounds onto myself!" Sade was forced to refocus again as the blonde man came running up to her and knelt at her feet, gently grasping her hand as he continued, "I am Sanji, Luffy's chef, you can relax knowing that I will always ensure that you eat the most nutritious food! I will protect the ladies on board our ship with my very life!"

There was a short pause as Sade looked at Sanji closely for the first time. She saw his face, and for a moment her heart stopped in its chest. She saw his eyebrow and her whole mind blanked for a second. Only for a second, then she relaxed and dismissed her worries. _That's impossible_… and she turned to the next person approaching their group.

"Y-yeah! It's always fun to make a new friend! I'm Usopp, a brave warrior of the sea! You can meet my 80,000 men later, I left them on my twelve battleships.." Usopp continued on, beginning to weave a fantastic tale as he gained more confidence, but Luffy cut him off. "So, Sade, what's going on?"

Sade looked around her and saw concerned faces on every member of the crew. _Friends, huh? You did say I'd meet some eventually, Shanks. And I won't forget what you told me — when I meet some friends, I have to make sure to trust them or it won't count. _With a small sigh, Sade dropped herself to the ground. "This lake is the reason I can't leave the island yet." She said, gesturing unnecessarily toward it. The crew, sensing a story, plopped themselves down around her as well. Nami pulled on Luffy's earlobe and snarked "Don't fall asleep this time captain," as he whined and Sade smiled.

"Don't worry, Luffy. I'll try to be fast," she drawled out. This earned her a huge and adorable grin from him. "I was accidentally fed a devil fruit when I was an infant, and so I never learned to swim. For an island where the only work is fish-diving, the townspeople couldn't comprehend this and labeled me a monster, especially when I started showing signs of turning into an animal." Here she had to stop her story because Luffy was right in front of her face, eyes shining like stars. "Coool!" He yelled, as the others in the crew were picking up their jaws from learning that an _infant was accidentally fed a devil fruit_.

Zoro was the first to get over his shock (as usual) and grabbed Luffy by the scruff of his neck, pulling him off their potential new crew mate and back to his spot on the ground. "So, what does that have to do with the lake and the blood?" He asked gruffly.

"Oi! Shitty moss head! Don't be rude, I'm sure she's getting there!" Sanji immediately cursed the swordsman, practically leaping across the space between them to swing his leg at Zoro's head. But before they could get anywhere in their fight, Nami shut them both down with a fist to both their heads. "SHUT UP!" She growled, before turning to face Sade and continuing in a much gentler manor, "Please, feel free to ignore them! Go ahead with your story, Sade."

She blinked, and then giggled at their antics until her eyes turned back to the lake and she let out another sigh, her eyes turning dark. "A few months after my parents died, my sister died as well." At this remark, all of the grumbling and mumbling from the crew halted and Luffy slid into his 'serious mode'. Just as he was opening his mouth to say something — he wasn't sure what yet — she was quick to reassure them, waving her hands in front of her face. "Don't worry that wasn't really the sad part, I mean, my parents were assholes so I was very grateful when they were killed, and my sister was sick her whole life. As much as I miss her, I am glad she's no longer suffering every day. The problem is...the problem is...I—" Sade cut herself off as her throat closed up and the tears pooled in her eyes. Of all the people that had come trooping through this forest looking for monsters, she'd never let any of them find her lake. Only she and the townspeople knew of her shame, and now that she finally had the opportunity to move past it, she could hardly breathe. She was so caught up in her panic that she didn't see the worried and alarmed looks the crew exchanged around her.

"I protected her my whole life and then I failed her!" She finally wailed out, her fingernails digging into the rock beneath her as her arms kept her from collapsing to the ground. "The day after she died her body was stolen from me by the people here and tossed in the lake. She always hated water, she must be so cold and alone down there. And I can't save her because I can't swim! To rub it in, they like to toss their trash in whenever I leave to eat or fall asleep. It's been more than three years and I can't help her! I'm useless just like they said! Useless! Aimee!" Sade cried out in agony, unable to keep it in anymore despite her best efforts. The words seemed to burst out of her without her control, and she realised that for three years she had spent every day battling to keep her despair inside her, knowing that it would overwhelm her if she ever let it out. Punishing herself for her failure by beating herself bloody was the only release she had allowed herself.

Sade was distracted from continuing as a small high-pitched whining sound came from the treeline and a small back and white ball of fluff darted across the clearing and jumped into her arms. "Koinu! You're back!" Sade smiled through her tears and cuddled her partner up to her face.

Luffy shook his head a little bit to clear the feelings of rage and sorrow that had been building in him at her words, and peered closer at the fluff in her arms, "You have a puppy?" He asked, leaning in. (Koinu means puppy.) Nami and Usopp quickly rubbed the tears out of their eyes and peered in as well. No one seemed to notice Zoro and Sanji move away from the group, looking out at the lake.

"Yes, Koinu is a very sweet puppy.. He's much more intelligent than your average dog too, he even understands a fair amount of human speech. He's small now but he told me for sure he'd grow huge one day!" Sade sniffed and managed to strengthen her voice, drawing comfort from the small licks she was getting from Koinu as he nuzzled into her face. She wiped away her tears and held him out so her new friends could meet her puppy.

….

Nami and Usopp both shrieked and fell back, scrambling away from the woman who was holding out a small skunk toward them. Luffy of course immediately grabbed the skunk and spun him around in the air, "Yes! Koinu you'll be perfect, I've been wanting a pet dog for the ship! Make sure you keep your promise and grow big and strong okay?!" This of course forced Nami and Usopp to face-vault into the ground, mumbling about how it shouldn't be possible to be so unobservant.

Usopp cracked first, leaping up, pointing a dramatic finger at Sade and crying out, "Oi! Oi! That's not a dog, crazy woman! That's a skunk! What are you thinking?"

Sade cocked her head a bit, and defly caught Koinu as he jumped from Luffy's palms toward her. He scampered up her arm and flopped over her shoulder, and promptly began to snore lightly. "He's not a skunk, cause his name is Koinu," she muttered, looking confused at him. Luffy jumped in, sticking his tongue out at the sniper, "Idiot!" he called. Nami was just beginning to crack, and opened her mouth, when a loud splash turned everyone's attention toward the lakeside, where now only Sanji stood.

"Sanji! What's going on?" Luffy called out to him as their group all headed to where he was smoking by the lake.

"The shitty moss head and I were talking about who should jump in to retrieve Aimee from the lake. He said I should go because I was already a piece of trash, so I kicked him in," Sanji told Luffy evenly. Luffy chuckled and Nami and Usopp just sighed. "He's so going to kill you once he gets out."

Sade froze at hearing Sanji's words. _Aimee...Aimee is going to be saved? _Her mind began to whirl and she couldn't seem to catch her breath. She felt a little light-headed and dizzy as she stumbled through the last few steps to the lakeside. She held her breath as she waited for Zoro to resurface. _Aimee, will I finally lay you to rest after three years of this torture? _Sade lost her strength and fell to her knees as she saw Zoro's head break the surface of the water. The crew watched silently as he walked slowly toward her collapsed form. She gasped for breath as he reached her, and, more gently than she'd thought possible for someone with such obvious strength, he placed the skeleton of her sister on the ground in front of her before moving to stand with Luffy as they all watched her carefully. Sade was almost totally blind due to the tears flowing uncontrollably from her. She lifted her shaking hands and oh so carefully ran one trembling finger over her sisters skull. "Aimee," the name ripped itself out of her chest and came out as an almost inhuman wail. "I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE SAFE AGAIN!" Her cry echoed off the lake and the trees around them, repeating the call back again and again as she wept, finally in relief instead of sorrow. She curled her body over the skeleton, hugging her sister's remains as much as she could as she gathered her remaining strength.

Eventually, Sade picked up her sister's skeleton with the utmost care, and began to walk toward the treeline. She stopped about halfway there however, and turned her head toward the Straw Hat Pirates. "Would my new friends like to attend my sister's burial?" She asked, and a warm smile spread across her face as they all smiled back at her and began to follow her back into the woods. The procession was silent, but not oppressive as they walked in a seemingly random pattern through the woods. After about half and hour, Usopp finally spoke up, "By the way...Sade, where are we going?"

The grey-haired girl had been walking confidently in front of the group, however as soon as Usopp spoke her foot froze on it's way to it's next step. "Um ...actually I can't seem to remember the way now that I'm trying to get there.." She murmured, her face flushing as the whole group crashed to the floor in shock. She spun around frantically in embarrassment as they all began to stand back up, only Sanji and Luffy didn't look incredulous; the former because he could only ever think a lady being lost was adorable, and the latter because he was too busy laughing about how much of a Zoro-like thing it was to lose your own sister's gravesite. Nami quickly bashed him on the head for his insensitivity once she'd recovered from her own shock, but Sade didn't seem at all upset.

"Eh? What's that?" They were interrupted as Zoro pointed at something strange he could make out through the trees. It was a small brick fence that formed a square around a gravestone, with a wooden slats forming a make-shift roof. The whole thing was wonky, though. A fair number of the bricks forming the fence were tilted, with some almost completely diagonal, and the gravestone itself looked as though it'd been chiseled by a child.

Nami was turning to assault Zoro next. _Keeping them in line is such a tiresome job. That deformed pile of rubble is obviously not what we're looking for. _She was just about to call this out when Sade calmly announced, "Oh, there it is. Good looking out, Zoro," and lead the way. Fortunately for the Straw Hats, she was distracted enough to miss Nami crashing to the ground in shock yet again and the rest of the crew doubled over in laughter at the mention of Zoro having any kind of direction sense while he glared at them.

Sanji stopped laughing when he caught sight of Sade again and murmured a reminder of what they were doing here to the crew. This sobered them all up immediately and they followed her over. When she got there, Sanji silently helped her lower Aimee's skeleton into the already-dug hole, and he gently took the shovel from her still unsteady hands and began to refill the hole.

She stood by and quietly observed him work, with the others not far behind her. When he finished, she knelt in front of the grave and bent her head in prayer, noting to herself that out of the corner of her eye, she could see all the members of Luffy's crew join her. Her heart filled with warmth as she even heard the quiet sound of Zoro pouring out some of his sake into the ground as a silent toast. _I knew I smelled sake on him earlier._ She smiled to herself.

As Sade knelt in front of the gravestone that simply read AIMEE: BE AT PEACE, she finally allowed the notion that her troubles might be over to sink in. Her whole life had been a series of battles, one after the other. First her neighbors began to hate her, until eventually their hate infected her parents and she began to know their wrath. When Aimee was born she became the sole bright spot in Sade's life. Though it immediately became tinged with despair when they discovered her illness: painful, fatal, and incurable. Sade began to take beatings from her parents in order to save their rage from harming Aimee. Her back was lined with the scars to prove her dedication to her sister. And of course, only months after that wondrous day when a pirate she would forever be grateful to killed her parents and saved her, Aimee died and was taken from her. But these people, her new friends, had gotten Aimee back. _I know it wasn't a difficult task for anyone who hasn't eaten a devil fruit, but I can't help but feel that only the best kind of people would be willing to do such a thing for almost a complete stranger. I think...I think I might even be able to achieve my dream with this crew. _And with that, Sade made her final decision.

* * *

"Say, Luffy. Would you hear my dream?" Sade's quiet question broke the peaceful silence that had settled across the clearing while the crew waited for her to stir.

"Shi shi shi, that's one of my favourite things to do!" He called back to her, signature grin on his face as his intuition hinted that he was soon to have a new nakama. Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp all sat up as well, interested to hear what their new friend was going to accomplish alongside them all.

"All I've ever wanted, was to have friends...and go on the wildest of adventures with them!" Sade finally spoke her dream out loud, in front of her sister and her new friends, and she felt completely free as her nakama all cheered upon hearing her dream.

"Yosh!" Luffy called out, "Let's go!"

Sade cheered with the others this time as they began to head off again, grabbing the small bag of belongings that she kept resting by the grave marker. The bag held everything she owned: a few outfits matching the one she had on now, some leggings and a hoodie for when it was chilly, and her winter cloak for when it was truly cold. Koinu's food was kept in one of the pouches around her waist (the other was where he liked to stay when she was doing something too rough for him to be on her shoulders).

"Say...can I ask you something Sade?" She heard Nami ask.

"Sure, what is it?" Sade turned to face her.

"How come that grave was so um...unique?" Nami blushed as she realised the potential rudeness of her question, as Usopp ran up behind her and quietly began to scold her for mentioning how horrible it looked.

Sade however, just threw back her head and laughed. "Aaah well, Aimee was never good at making our people's jewelry," she began, gesturing to all the lumpy metal covering her body, "and I guess I was never good at building things!" She finished.

As they all laughed, Usopp called out, "You're just as bad as Luffy!" Causing another round of laughter before Luffy caught the insult and leapt at Usopp with a shout.

Suddenly, a wave of dizziness passed over her and Sade felt extreme exhaustion begin to take over. "Sorry guys, I haven't slept properly in three years...I think it's finally catching up to me. I'll leave the rest to you." Pushing those words out of her mouth took all her remaining energy, as the constant tension that had kept her moving for three years finally relaxed as she let her guard down, trusting in her new family to take care of her. Just like that she began to slump over, passing out right there in the road. The last thing she was aware of was landing on something hard, but warm as her eyes slipped shut.


	2. It Appears She Has A Very Odd Ability

Zoro sighed as he looked down at their latest crew member. Sade had been asleep even before he caught her on his back, and that had been all that stopped Sanji from attacking him as he carried her back to the ship. Of course the second Zoro had dropped her off in Nami's room, he had attacked Sanji with even more vigor than usual, screaming about the Lake Incident and rubbing off as much dirt as he could onto the chef.

By now they had been sailing for two days and she still hadn't stirred. She must have been pushing herself far beyond her limits every day for those three years. Still, he was glad she was resting now. What he wasn't happy about, however, was the —rather cute— annoying pet she had taken with her. Koinu had squeaked in a clearly panicked manor as Sade collapsed, and it had taken him quite a while to get the little fluff calmed down. He even opened up Sade's waist pouch and found his food when the skunk wouldn't stop pulling at it. Of course, since he had done that, the damn thing seemed to take that as a sign that Zoro would take care of him until Sade woke. Which meant that the skunk had taken to climbing all over him, and begged him for food constantly.

Sanji, Luffy, Usopp, and Nami would not stop laughing at him because of it. None of his glares seemed to work with the little fluff nestled in his hair or tucked in his belly warmer. His only comfort (and great amusement) was that Koinu seemed able to sense what a shitty cook Sanji is. From the minute he brought Sade a plate of food (back when they thought she would wake in a few hours), Koinu leapt into action, putting himself between the cook and the woman, hissing as loud as he could and fluffing himself up to look as threatening as possible. And since then, the skunk seemed particularly wary of Sanji. He had taken some time to become familiar with the other friends his master had made — winning over Nami and Usopp once they realised he wouldn't spray his stink on them — but Koinu would not approach the chef.

Now here they were, docking at Loguetown and Koinu had run out of food. Zoro sighed again at Sade's sleeping form. I guess I have to buy food for the fluff, since it doesn't look like she's getting up any time soon. What a pain.

* * *

Sade blinked her eyes open and stretched lazily out over the couch she was on, letting her mouth open into a wide yawn. "Finally awake?" Sade heard, and swiftly turned her head to see Nami smiling down at her from the doorway. "You've been asleep for almost a week, you know! Had us worried!"

She sat up slowly, and rubbed the back of her head, "That long? Sorry, I didn't realise I was so tired. Where am I, anyway?"

"Oh! You're onboard the Going Merry! Our pirate ship. I'm sure you must be starving, let's go to the galley and Sanji can feed you while we catch you up! It's about breakfast time, anyway," Nami explained, giving her a hand off the couch.

Looking around in wonder and excitement, Sade followed Nami to the galley while the navigator called out to the others that their new crewmate was finally up. Sanji, naturally, was the first to arrive, "Sade-chan! What shall I make for your first meal as our nakama? Oh please tell me your favourite dish so that I-"

"Ah, raw meat please! With milk!" Sade happily cut him off, walking toward where she could hear her new captain yelling about breakfast, completely ignoring the way Sanji and Nami froze and stared at her with flabbergasted expressions. "By the way… has anyone seen Koinu? I know he would have jumped on board.." She muttered, glancing this way and that as she kept walking. She paused when she reached the galley door, however, because Zoro was walking up to it at the same time, Koinu slumped on top of his head, letting out happy little coo's every now and then.

"Koinu!" She cried happily, catching the small beast as he squeaked enthusiastically and launched himself into her arms. Sade heard a quiet hmph and quickly returned her attention to the swordsman in front of her as Koinu nuzzled himself into the crook of her neck before settling himself on her shoulder. "Are you the one that took care of him while I was out?"

At his hesitant nod, memories of everything else he'd done for her flooded her mind. "And..and my sister of course. I have so much to thank you for I don't know where to start." She tilted her head up to meet his eyes as hers became damp around the edges as tears threatened to fall.

"Oi, oi!" Zoro said softly, panic coming to his face as he saw her tearing up. "You don't have to thank me or anything, we're nakama now. Of course I helped. Your creature was a pain but at least he has good sense. I left the food I got from Loguetown in your room." By the end of his response, Zoro's face had a small blush and he had gone back to his usual gruff tone.

Sade stared up at Zoro, once again surprised by his selflessness. She had so much to be grateful to him for that she couldn't stop herself from gently reaching up to grasp his face in her hands. She smiled softly and in one quick motion, guided his head to her level and brushed her lips across his cheek. "Sincerely, thank you very much, Zoro." And as soon as she did she hurried through the door of the galley, aware that her tactile nature was usually considered uncomfortable to most people.

* * *

Zoro almost choked when she held his face in her hands -soft, he noted- and because he was so caught off guard by that, he had no chance to pull away before she kissed his cheek. And of course that was so unexpected that he didn't move at all as she quickly fled. What the hell was that? He started to panic again, before noticing that his instincts, which of course he trusted above all else, weren't concerned at all. In fact, if anything Zoro felt content that the new member on their crew was clearly happy to be here. He decided to relax and let it go, not like one cheek-kiss as a thank you was any stranger than anything the rest of the crazy crew might get up to. He studiously ignored the part of himself that wanted to pull her back. A swordsman has no time for feelings like that. He reminded himself, and let it go.

* * *

"Oi! Sade! I'm glad you're up! Come on, you're going to be late for breakfast! Sanji makes the best food," Luffy called to her as he reached his arm over toward her, until it stretched through the space between them and wrapped around her own arm several times before snapping back into place, consequently pulling her into the chair next to him at the table.

"Eh? What was that? That was so cool!" She asked him, eyes widening slightly from where they had been drooping sleepily.

"Oh, I ate the Gum-Gum fruit. Now I'm a rubber man!" He explained, grinning happily as he pulled on the side of his mouth.

"I see, you ate a fruit too. I've never met another devil fruit user before."

"Oh yeah! I never asked earlier, what type is yours?" Luffy asked her, beaming in excitement.

Just as she began to answer him, Sanji appeared with a covered dish, looking uncertain. "Sade-chan! I finished your food first because I didn't have to cook it, but are you really sure this is okay? I wouldn't ever forgive myself if my food made you sick!"

"Oh, don't worry Sanji," she drawled with a yawn. "It's pretty much all I eat. My theory is that eating a zoan fruit so young made the predator side of me mature faster than the human side of me. Or at least that's my guess, I'm not a doctor so I don't really know." She shrugged, and then huffed out a laugh at the incredulous looks that got her. "All I know is that eating too many veggies makes me sick, grains are just unappealing, cooked meat is delicious, and raw meat is the best!" She finished with a wide grin that showed off teeth just a little pointier and longer than normal.

Nami couldn't help her mouth dropping open as she listened to Sade's explanations while finding her seat. I can't tell if she's as dense as Luffy or not! First she wanders around the forest without a clue as to where she's going...then she comes up with that clever guess about her diet...and then she tells us she just made it all up! Nami decided her best bet was just to ignore it and hope that she could at least take care of herself in a fight.

"Oh! I see! Is that why Koinu doesn't like me then? Because I put a plate of mostly vegetables down next to you while you were sleeping?" Sanji asked, eyeing the black and white fluff nestled in the Sade's hair.

Sade rolled her eyes and laughed, placing Koinu on her palm and looking him in the eyes. "Oi Koinu, Sanji didn't know about my diet, so don't hold it against him! Now, he's our crew mate so you make nice with him, okay?" The skunk purred happily in her hands and swished his tail in acknowledgment.

Happy that was taken care of, Sade uncovered the plate in front of her and chaos erupted as the others (who had all arrived and seated themselves during the conversation) reacted to her unconventional breakfast. Usopp let out a shrill noise of terror and held out his cutlery as some sort of threat, while Nami just turned a funny shade of green and scooted her chair further away from her. Sanji sighed happily as he saw Sade begin to eat his food and left to go finish preparing everyone else's breakfast. Zoro raised an eyebrow, turned to his captain to watch his no-doubt explosive reaction, and was not disappointed.

"WHAAAT? How come you get to eat your meat raw?! Nami never lets me do that! SANJI! Bring me raw meat too! I'm so hungry!" Luffy yelled and began to throw a fit, but soon was stopped as he noticed tanned fingers holding a large bite of raw meat just in front of his face.

"You wanna try it? It's pretty delicious," Sade asked, gnawing on her own piece.

Luffy's eyes widened and he gave her a huge grin as he opened his mouth and happily chomped down…

"Oh, Luffy?" Sade asked calmly as she turned her attention back to her captain. "You seem to have gotten my hand as well." She blinked slowly at him, holding her arm still as she gently pulled her hand out of the ravenous mouth. Just in time, too, as one foot and one fist slammed down on the poor captain's head. Sanji of course was screaming about harming the precious Sade-chan and Nami furious that he thought he could eat raw meat.

"Shishishishi sorry Sade!" Luffy called and she just smiled back as she stood and took her dishes to the sink before leaving, calling out a thank-you to Sanji on the way.

Stepping out onto the deck, Sade smiled at the sight of the sun shining down and warming the wood. Finding a nice spot against the railing, Sade grabbed the pillow that she had been using on the couch in the girls' room and curled up for a nap in the sun. Koinu settled himself down next to her.

One blue eye cracked open to watch warily as Luffy pulled a person onto the deck, but she relaxed and let it close again upon seeing it was just a small girl.

* * *

The next time Sade woke up, it was because Merry was flying through the sky, and she was about to be flung off. Next thing she knew a warm arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her back to the railing before she was out of reach. "Thanks!" She got out through her yawn as Zoro let go of her.

Hearing a haggard squeak, she reached down to comfort poor Koinu, who was looking dizzy and discombobulated. She braced her knees as they came crashing back down to the sea.

"H-how are you so relaxed?! Did you not notice how we were surrounded by the largest sea kings I've ever seen? Or almost being eaten by them? Or getting sneezed into the air?!" She heard Usopp yell at her and she giggled when she saw him still holding onto the mast for dear life, despite them having already landed.

"So, what's going on? Are we going on an adventure?" She asked blandly, looking around for someone who could explain what was happening as Koinu recovered and began nesting in her steel grey hair.

"Have you been asleep this whole time?" Nami asked, her jaw dropping open slightly.

"You're so funny, Sade!" Luffy gave his signature laugh.

She rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry guys I guess I'm still catching up on lost sleep."

"Don't worry Sade-chan! Come eat something and I'll explain what's going on," Sanji happily herded her to the kitchen and she went along easily, listening to his explanation.

Sade left the galley, belly full and excited for her first adventure with the crew. She went to go stand by the young girl, Apis, who was looking over the railing. "Hello, sorry we didn't meet earlier, I'm Sade," she introduced herself through a yawn.

"It's rude to talk while yawning, you know," was her response. Sade laughed and Koinu popped his head out of her fluffy hair, squeaking angrily at the girl.

Apis's eyes widened, "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't realize how tired you must be." Koinu cut himself off mid-squeak and stared at her in wonder.

Did she just understand Koinu? Sade opened her mouth to ask her about it but before she could, Usopp shouted that the island was in sight, and she had to go help get the ship ready for docking. As she turned to help, Koinu sprang from her head and landed in the Apis's arms. He was squeaking at her excitedly and she was grinning and nodding along, they looked so happy that Sade was content to leave Koinu with the girl for a while.

* * *

A few hours later and Sade was well on her way to falling back asleep. The old man Bokuden was telling them some ridiculously long story as they waited for the pork buns to finish cooking. I can't even get any raw meat! Sade whined to herself, giving Koinu some of the food she had stashed for him in her pouch.

She was yearning to lay down and take a nap with the others, but something was still bugging her. She felt something strange in the air on this island. All of the animals on the island that were in her range felt...alert. Like the inhabitants were all holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. She'd never gotten this kind of feeling from nature before, and it was making her uneasy. She thought about mentioning it to the others, but she wasn't feeling any worry or distress from the creatures nearby and waking everyone up to tell them she was getting a weird vibe felt a little excessive. Naps are incredibly important after all. They shouldn't be interrupted without a definite emergency. She nodded to herself seriously.

Sade was about to let it go when she suddenly felt a shift. Normal animals just felt like a small blip on her radar. Their emotions were easy to understand and tune out. She could focus individual and understand their feelings if she tried, but mostly everything mushed together and just felt like white noise around her. But just at the very edges of her awareness now, she could feel something wake up, and begin to emit a tangled web of complicated emotions: urgency, despair, loneliness, anticipation, and an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. These are human emotions...but I can only sense animals, and never this strongly. What's going on here?

Sade quietly stood and picked her way through her sleeping friends, determined to find the source of this mystery. She soon found herself climbing the mountain through the forest, following her sense of the creature. Koinu shifted uneasily on her head and she reached up a hand to give him a reassuring stroke.

Finally, she pushed aside some bushes, crawled through a hole, and walked into a dark cave, stretching her arms up and yawning as she went. Koinu squeaked in alarm and quickly went to hide in his pouch when they heard the rumbling, deep breath of something huge coming from further in the cave.

"Oi! Sade! Did you follow Apis too?" She heard her captain call, and her eyes widened as she turned the corner and saw Luffy and Apis sitting down each eating a pork bun, but she barely registered them. Her eyes were locked on the eyes of the great dragon in front of her. She saw his huge nostrils flare slightly as he took in her scent, and then his chest began to rumble as he let out a strange purring growl.

"Uh, no Captain. I just felt a presence from across the island and came to find it. Looks like you guys got here first, though. Is this a dragon?" She asked, calming down and going back to her sleepy state when she felt nothing negative from the creature, just a great swell of emotions she couldn't really pick out.

"Yeah, and guess what? Apis can talk to him! Isn't that so cool?!" Luffy yelled happily, waving his arms around.

"Actually, he wants to talk to you, Sade." Apis murmured, eyebrows furrowing as she concentrated on the dragon. Luffy's eyes widened and he stared at Sade as though she was magic. "He says it's an honor to meet you, he never thought he'd meet a — what?" Apis stopped suddenly and looked very confused. "Sorry, he's calling you something at the end there...but I don't understand it. I should be able to, I don't know what that means."

"Oh, don't worry Apis! He's using my title, but there's no word for it in human languages so it must not make any sense to you," Sade smiled at the girl, before turning and bowing to the dragon. "The honor is mine, great one. I can sense your despair —I would be happy to help if I can?"

As Sade was focused on Grandpa Ryu, she missed Luffy's reaction to the conversation until he about burst, "Woaaah Sade what's going on? You can feel presences and emotions? Also you have a title? What is it? Are you a psychic?" Luffy practically bounced around the cave, eyes wide and shining like stars. As he finished his list of questions, he managed to settle himself down in front of her and stared, waiting for answers. Apis sat with him, looking just as interested in her answers. Koinu took his chance and scampered back over to the child, and she happily took him into her arms.

"Right, I haven't had a chance to explain," Sade began, slumping over and resting her chin on her hand. "The zoan fruit I ate was —

**Aaaand turns out I'm exactly cruel enough to end the chapter here. Have no fear though, you'll get the rest soon enough! I'd also like to apologise if the writing feels rough. When I read it through I can tell it's off but I can't seem to point out how exactly. Also I either can't fix it or don't have the energy to, not sure which. I hope it's not too distracting!**


	3. She Finally Reveals Herself

"Right, I haven't had a chance to explain," Sade began, slumping over and resting her chin on her hand. "The zoan fruit I ate was a legendary mythic fruit. The Cat-Cat Fruit Model: Leo of the Stars. Guardian is probably the closest human word to what I really am to animals." She paused as she tried to think of the best way to explain it, as Luffy was clearly still confused, if the blank look he was giving her was any indication. "Nature is supposed to be balanced, right? But sometimes things happen that upset that balance. The Leo Cat is meant to help protect that balance, and in order to let me do that I can sense certain things from the animals close to me. Mostly it's just vague impressions of the animals' emotional state. If there's an extreme imbalance however, I usually get a sense of it. Of course it is just from my devil fruit so I can ignore imbalances if I want to, but I like to try to help."

Luffy let out a long hmmm as he scrunched his eyebrows and looked to be thinking so hard Sade almost worried he would hurt himself. "So...you're a magic cat guardian?" He finally asked.

Sade let out a laugh and agreed. Close enough, I suppose.

Just then, Nami came around the corner of the cave, dragging Usopp behind her as Sanji and Zoro followed of their own accord. All of them had wide eyes, taking in the humongous dragon in front of them, and the startling explanation they had heard Sade give on her devil fruit.

* * *

Almost an hour later, and the Straw Hats had decided on their plan of action for returning Grandpa Ryu to Lost Island. Usopp and Zoro were going to sail the Merry around to a quiet part of the shore while the others helped prepare a cart to transport the giant dragon.

Sade lifted her cropped tank top and used it to wipe up the sweat beading at her brow from helping Nami bind the giant logs together. Luffy and Sanji were their tree cutters. Finally when it was all done, Sade sat on their makeshift cart and leaned her back against Grandpa Ryu. Everyone else climbed aboard as well, and Sade relaxed as she heard Luffy begin excitedly yelling orders and Nami begin to nervously whimper. Soon she was laughing out loud as they soared down the slope, definitely reaching speeds that were beyond dangerous. Sanji did his best to help Nami steer, both of them looking white as a sheet. Sade noticed a few moments before her crew that they were about to fly into the air and make a crash landing, so she used the time to casually reach out and drag Apis into her lap, securing her hold on both the girl and the dragon so she knew they'd all be safe. Seeing Koinu miserable and clenched tightly in Apis's hand she took a second to grab him and put him safely in her pouch again.

"Nami," Sade called pleasantly a few minutes later once everyone had calmed down and they had set sail.

The navigator turned sharply toward Sade, who was resting against the railing, "What?!" She snapped. Sade's constant calm was irritating to her, as she was still pressing a hand into her chest to ease her racing heart.

"Sorry sorry," Sade smiled, "I just wanted to ask that in the future you try to scream in fear away from my ears? I have very sensitive hearing."

Zoro had to chuckle at hearing her say that, he'd seen them come crashing down the mountain and having a mental image of the events made it all the funnier. Which of course earned him one of their navigators toughest glares, but Zoro being Zoro just ignored it and went back to his nap.

Nami paused and her irritation drained away when she saw Sade actually wince and put a hand up to hear ear. Nami hadn't noticed that she was screaming in her friend's ear (she was a little preoccupied, damn it) but she didn't want to hurt her nakama. Okay, she didn't want to hurt her nakama accidentally. "Sorry Sade, I didn't realise," Nami murmured, and relaxed as she saw Sade wave her off. "By the way, how come you were so relaxed? Even Sanji freaked out at the end there!"

Sade chuckled at that. "I'm pretty damn durable, that wouldn't have hurt me. You didn't have to worry too much though Nami. As long as you're close me you can consider yourself about as safe as you'll ever be," She scratched her cheek and shrugged.

Zoro's eyes opened curiously at hearing that, and the others reacted as well. Luffy gave her a contemplative look, Usopp peeked over at her, and Nami began to ask her more, but Sade was already standing and stretching out. "I'm going to go sit with Grandpa Ryu for a while," she called out and jumped off the ship with a lazy wave.

* * *

Sade curled into the dragon's side and began communicating with him in the strange way she could in her human form. She knew it would be easier to speak to him in her Leo form, but she got the sense that the great dragon would feel the need to get up and speak to her properly if she did and she didn't want to push him. Animals tend to react in a variety of ways to her presence when she's in that form. Less intelligent animals can sense her lack of hostility and tend to just be less wary, but the more intelligent ones can sense her innate protective nature and sometimes even her true title. Those animals sometimes like to seek her out and talk for awhile. Grandpa Ryu knew exactly who she was and seemed to want to honor her, he didn't need the excitement of feeling Leo's true presence.

So Sade remained in her human form, and she could speak to him quietly and send him impressions of her emotions and receive his emotional response in return. It was indirect and muddled, but it let them understand each other. Apis sat with them, occasionally using her Whisper-Whisper fruit to translate, but otherwise just quietly listening. Sade always loved communicating like this, because it's impossible to be anything other than open and honest when directly sharing feelings. It's also why Sade would hide her presence completely while hunting, she couldn't project her protective presence to lure animals - projecting while hunting would only send out alarms of exactly where the best hunter in the world was hidden.

Koinu eventually got over his fear of Grandpa Ryu and came out of his pouch on Sade's waist. Apis was thrilled to see the fluff ball and the two immediately began to play together again. The four were so engrossed in their conversation and games that they didn't even notice the mirage until they were practically through it. Soon, they heard Luffy's shout that he could see an island in the distance.

As soon as the Merry pulled up to the island, Sade could tell that this was not the place they were looking for. None of the creatures here even felt slightly alert or aware that a major change was about to take place. Everything just felt...normal. Warship Island's nature felt far more excited and agitated than this. But why wouldn't the people there be aware of it? And why would Grandpa Ryu have wanted to leave? Sade hummed and felt her eyebrows begin to scrunch together as she tried to solve the mystery without all the information she needed. Eventually she shrugged and decided just to not worry about it too much. "Luffy? Nami? I'm not sure what this place is but you might want to know that this island almost definitely isn't the place we're looking for. None of the creatures here are waiting for something to happen like they were on Warship Island," she called out to the crew from where they were all trying to push Ryu's cart down the road. She hadn't noticed but she'd stumbled away from the group and a little bit into the trees nearby and she jogged lightly to catch up to them.

Nami looked at her with a blank face before it quickly shifted to rage as she shook her fist at her oblivious friend. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell us that earlier? Now we have to turn around and go all the way back!"

Sade blinked in confusion and looked around to see if Sanji, Usopp, Zoro or Luffy could help her understand what was happening now. Sanji was the only one who didn't look confused, and he must have noticed her lost expression because he began to explain before she cut him off. "No, I get that our best bet is Warship Island, but don't you guys want to explore here anyway just for fun?"

Sade found out that evidently Nami, Usopp and Apis very much did not want to explore the unknown "spooky" island. She and Luffy were herded back to the ship by the furious trio with Zoro and Sanji following behind with Grandpa Ryu. No matter how much she and Luffy pouted it seemed this time they were going to be ignored. Instead, Sade decided to curl up with her pillow against the railing and take a nap in the sun.

* * *

Zoro was resting quietly on the railing across from Sade. He smiled at the memory of her trying to convince Nami to go on an unnecessary 'adventure' on Lost Island. He hadn't really cared either way what they did but it was always amusing to see someone take on the debt-witch. He glanced at her again as he contemplated their new crewmember. I wonder what her role here will be. It's at least nice that she seems to appreciate a good nap, I guess that makes up for the clingy skunk. He thought, ignoring the soft part of himself that argued that Koinu was actually pretty cute.

Eventually, Zoro was pulled out of his thoughts by Usopp. He cursed to himself as he heard the sniper call out about a marine ship blocking their path. He cursed a few more times and loosened his katanas in their sheathes as he saw the long line of marine ships, surrounding them and connected by thick chains. He heard them shouting about giving up the dragon and scowled.

Luffy ran to the bow, with Zoro and Sanji following, ready to defend the ship. Zoro knew Nami and Usopp would be preparing to get the ship away from harm as soon as they had a viable escape option, and he took a second to spare a glance at Sade. He was curious in spite of their situation about what role she would play here.

She looked to be standing up, and something about the slow and calm way she was putting her pillow and blankets away had him slowing down to observe her. She methodically put everything away, and strolled over to join the guys at the bow. "Captain, I believe you can leave this part up to me. Let me show you what I can do, yeah?"

Zoro stared. She had a calm smile on her face, but what shocked him was the look in her eyes. Instead of the usual sleepy, barely paying attention look he had gotten used to, something sharp had shown up. Her eyes were fierce and focused on the marines surrounding them. The wind ruffled her hair a little bit and her eyes flashed as she looked to Luffy. There was no trace of the sleepyhead anymore, this was a woman ready to protect her nakama.

"Ah, okay," the captain said easily, grinning at her, and she smiled back.

Sade quickly looked down to her pouch, "Koinu, it's time for a fight!" She called, and the skunk nosed his way out of the pouch and settled himself on her shoulder before she pulled one of her long braids over it so he could have an emergency grip if necessary.

A glow illuminated Sade for a moment as Zoro watched, before it faded and in front of them stood a half cat-half human. Sade's teeth had grown into dangerous fangs, and her nails into deadly claws. Hair the same color as her steel grey grew up from her hands to her elbows, and from her knees down to her feet. Her feet and ankles shifted around to allow her to run much faster, which made her she grow a few inches taller. Her eyes remained the same green color but the pupils turned into cat slits as her ears changed into fuzzy cat ears, and an extremely fluffy tail that was almost as long as she grew out of her spine. Zoro's eyes widened as he saw the mark on her face. Golden, almost glowing, there was a large symbol for Leo starting on one cheek, reaching up to her forehead, going over both eyes and ending on her other cheek. Beautiful...Zoro was too surprised at seeing his first zoan transformation to notice his own reaction to it.

All three of the boys stared at her, and even Usopp and Nami took a moment to look (both turning a bit pale as they saw how dangerous she now was), until Luffy shattered the moment by screaming about how cool she was, and the predator laughed with him through her deadly fangs. But she quickly had to turn her attention back to the marines as she heard the sounds of cannons being fired. Zoro started to pull on his katana, readying to slice them up, but stopped when he felt Luffy's hand on his arm, and saw Sade was on the move.

She clapped her hands together, and they glowed the same golden as her mark before she threw her arms out in front of her and called out, "Absolute Reject: Fortress!" A bright light shot from her hands and expanded into a giant dome that surrounded the whole ship, including Grandpa Ryu's raft in bright golden lines that formed a diamond pattern. It was beautiful, but as soon as it appeared it faded away.

Zoro grit his teeth. Whatever Sade had done seemed to be gone, and the cannon balls were whistling through the air toward them, but Luffy's hand was still lightly holding him back. He turned to pull away from the captain when he noticed that Luffy didn't look at all concerned. In fact, he was still staring at Sade with stars in his eyes and a grin cracking his face. Sade for her part looked entirely calm, but still had that foreign look of fierce readiness in her eyes. He didn't even bother wasting his time to check on Sanji, who he could hear cooing and babbling over "Sade-chan's all-encompassing beauty" or something; he could hardly hear it over Nami and Usopp's cries of fear. There wasn't any time for it, anyway, the cannonballs were raining down on them.

* * *

Sade smiled to herself as the cannonballs arrived. Her crew was finally going to see what she was capable of. One of the perks of her shield was that it remained invisible until there was something to block. As the bombs came into contact with her fortress, it sparked into life, and she heard quiet gasps from her captain and Zoro as the interlocking lines of her fortress stopped every single projectile with ease. "I can keep this up for as long as you need, Captain! But I can't attack like this so I'll have to leave that up to you all this time," she explained with a grin, still holding up her palms.

Her grin turned into a laugh as Nami and Usopp glomped onto her, crying about how scared they were and how amazing her shield was. Sanji tried to join in, but she took a quick graceful step to the side and he slid right past her.

"YOOSH! It's decided then! Sade, you're officially the crew's guard, okay?" Luffy yelled out from his special seat, and she saw him throw his arm forward, "Nami, full speed ahead! Now we can attack without fear! Usopp! Man the cannon! Zoro, Sanji! With me!"

Sade sat on the front railing of the ship, her legs dangling over the water. She kept her hands in front of her, palms up and glowing golden. Sanji and Zoro flanked her on either side, Sanji lighting up a cigarette while Zoro just gave her a contemplative look.

"Hey, is that the same glow on your hands that I saw on your feet earlier, in the forest?" Zoro asked her while they waited to get in range of the marine ships.

Sanji perked up on her other side, "I thought I saw the same thing, too."  
"Yes, in my human form I have very limited control of my light. I can't pull very much of it out, but I can just about cover my feet in it so I don't have to wear shoes, which has gotta be the best part. Well, that or when I land on my feet I can absorb the shock of long falls. No, it's the shoes, definitely." Sade chewed on her lip as she tried to decide.

"Ooh Sade-chan! You look so overwhelmingly cute with that adorable pout on such a fierce face! I think I've fallen in love all over again~~" Sanji twirled around and sang, and Sade gave him a smile and bumped her shoulder against his. This of course caused Sanji to go nearly catatonic and he stumbled off toward Luffy, singing her praises the whole way.

Zoro, on the other hand, leaned against the railing next to her so they were facing opposite directions and closed his eyes. I can't believe she cares mostly about not needing shoes. Such a Luffy thing to do. So why is it that it's almost...endearing on her? Maybe because she's not as selfish as Luffy? He shook those thoughts away, it wasn't like it mattered anyway. He was just glad that it seemed he would be able to get along well with her.

As another round of cannonballs crashed against the golden fortress, Sade nudged Zoro with her shoulder and he turned to her. "Might want to look out," Was all she was able to get out before Luffy's arm stretched back to circle around Zoro's waist. She saw him blink, and then the next second he, Luffy, and Sanji were all gone. The Merry had gotten close enough to the marines that Luffy had decided to literally take it into his own hands and jump the gap with his crewmates.

Sade kept her palms up to hold their fortress in place and watched as one explosion after another rocked the navy ships in front of them, until some of the chains gave way, and she saw an escape route open up. "Nami!" She called out, "I can see a way out, over there!"

"Perfect!" Came the reply, and Sade heard Nami instructing Usopp on where their cannon's target needed to be.

As quickly as they could, Nami and Usopp managed to get the Merry sailing through the gap they'd made. Sade called out to Luffy as she saw him grinning widely as he beat up any marine foolish enough to get close to him. He turned and spotted them sailing by, and gave a shout of excitement before he grabbed Zoro and Sanji again and rocketed toward the ship. The two hapless crewmembers yelled in shock as they flew through the fortress and onto the Merry, Luffy crashed into the mast, Sanji face-planted into the deck, and Zoro collided directly into Sade, who was still sitting on the railing and hadn't had time to get out of the way.

Sade saw them coming toward her, but was too focused on letting them through her barrier that she didn't notice Zoro heading straight for her until she head his cursing. Her eyes widened and all her breath was knocked out as his head crashed into her stomach. Her back hit the deck and her head snapped backward, but mercifully didn't hit the hard wood as well. "You okay?" She heard Zoro groan out above her and she took a moment to catch her breath.

"Yeah, I think so.." Sade trailed off and felt her face heat up when she noticed their position. He had managed to catch himself with his hands just before he landed on her, so his face was just a few inches from her own. Her head had been spared cracking against the deck by his hand, which had gently caught her before it could.

They both jerked up quickly when they heard Apis's scream echo around them. It was Sade's turn to curse when she realized that the collision had caused her to drop the fortress, and the marines had taken advantage of it by separating Grandpa Ryu's raft from the Merry. "Apis is still on there!" She called out.

The Straw Hats all moved to go save their friend, but before anyone got there Grandpa Ryu decided to act. The great dragon heaved himself up, curling his wings protectively around the girl, raised his head to the sky and let loose an earth-rattling roar. The wind picked up and all the crew along with most of the marines had to cover their ears to block out the sound. Somewhere in all the screaming and noise Sade thought she heard Usopp pleading for the dragon to stop, but her attention was immediately caught by something else.

Entranced, Sade took her hands off of her ears and turned her attention to the presences she could suddenly detect. Hundreds of voices called back to Grandpa Ryu from the sky, rejoicing in their great reunion and echoing his anger at the greedy humans' actions. It took all her concentration to block enough of the voices out that they wouldn't overwhelm her. Sade was about to point out to the others that there were hundreds of dragons about to come into view, but she suddenly felt all of the anticipation that had been building up in the animals that were within her sensory range come to a climax and she knew that something huge was about to happen.

Because of this, she was (only somewhat) less surprised than the others when the entire island shifted and doubled in size as it emerged from the sea, and the hundreds of dragons poured down from the sky. Some of the arriving dragons took the opportunity to crash through and sink most of the navy ships on their way in.

After she and the crew took a little time to anchor the Merry and recover from their shock, everyone ran off to join Apis on the newly exposed island. Sade was feeling a little overwhelmed by the thousands of gigantic voices calling out, each with their own potent mix of emotions, and it was quickly draining her energy. Still, she was happy to talk with those dragons that approached her after sensing what she really was, many of them wanting to express their gratitude toward her and Luffy's crew for protecting their family. One young dragon even went so far as to give her one of his feathers, which Sade took and wove into her steel grey braid with great care. Soon it really did all become too much for her, however. The voices were ringing in her head and she developed a pounding headache. Sade stood to head back toward the Merry for a nap, but found herself swaying as dizziness struck her. But, as she thought she was about to tumble to the ground, a warm but firm arm caught her around the shoulders.

"Am I always going to be catching you like this?" Sade heard and turned her head to see Zoro had caught her once again.

"...sorry, I've never had so much noise in my head before. I didn't want to be a bother," Sade managed to murmur though she leaned on him heavily as he began to lead her back to the ship.

"Tch don't worry about it. You're nakama, remember?" Zoro grumbled, and she gave him a lazy smile in return.

When they made it back to the ship, Sade pulled her pillow and blankets out of her hidey-hole and settled in for her nap against the railings. Just before she fell asleep, she felt Zoro settle down next to her napping spot and vaguely registered him mumbling about keeping the others quiet before she slipped away entirely.

* * *

Around midday the next day, Sade was kicking her feet back and forth over the water as she sat on the bow's railing. She pulled the bone out of her mouth as she finished eating the raw meat snack Sanji had given her and turned to Luffy who was sitting on his special seat not too far from her. "Hey, doesn't that look like a lighthouse over there?" She asked, lazily pointing in the general direction they were headed to. Koinu chirped along with her from his position on the captain's head.

Luffy perked up and took a look, before calling it to everyone's attention in his typical fashion. "Guuuuyys! Mystery Mountain! I can see the Mystery Mountain!" As he flailed around, Koinu managed to leap back into Sade's arms before he was flung off the ship.

Usopp perked up from where he'd been fishing, and toppled off of the railing to land on the napping Zoro who woke with a startled grunt and shoved Usopp off of him. "What's going on..?"

Once he was fully awake, Zoro stared wide-eyed at the mountain. "Am I imagining this…? The water really is flowing up the mountain!"

"It's the Red Line! Luffy, that lighthouse is the guiding light for the entrance to the Grand Line! There's a nasty storm coming too, everyone get ready!" Sade heard Nami call from the deck, and so she turned to help Zoro prepare the ship while Usopp went to go help Sanji.

"Hey guys, wanna do a toast really quick?" Sade heard, and she turned to see Sanji who had just kicked an empty barrel upright in the middle of the deck.

"Oh good idea!" Luffy grinned as everyone gathered around with a smile.

"To find the All Blue!" Sanji called out and placed his foot on the top of the barrel.

"To become King of the Pirates!"

"To draw a map of the world!"

"To become the world's greatest swordsman!"

"T-to become a b-brave warrior of the sea!"

"To go on grand adventures with the greatest of nakama!" Sade smiled as her foot joined the others, and as one they crashed through the barrel.

Rain started pouring down hard but Sade kept working hard next to Zoro, even as the ropes kept slipping in her hands. There was a shout from the galley and Nami screamed that they needed to turn just a little more. Sade took a moment to glance up and saw the sharp rock they were headed for. "The whipstaff snapped!" Usopp screamed across the ship.

Sade relaxed when she looked over and saw Zoro with his hand on his blades. I suppose he could just cut the rock, that would work. But before he could act, Luffy leapt into the air and inflated himself into a huge balloon, that the Merry gently bounced off of, and wound up perfectly on the current going up the mountain. Zoro reached out and yanked Luffy back to the ship just in time.

"Woohooo! Here we go!" Completely unfazed, Luffy was already back in his special seat and cheering aloud as they began to climb.

Sade watched with a feral grin as her adrenaline began to pump and she clenched the railing in her hands. We're above the clouds! She looked down to check on Koinu, and chucked when she saw him happily nestled in the tiny "blankets" (which were actually just cut up pieces of her old clothes) in her pouch. "At least someone's dry, huh?"

When the ship tilted suddenly and began to go back down the mountain, Sade's eyes widened and she tightened her grip on the rail again, while Koinu flew out of his pouch ("I can't believe I forgot to zip it closed!") and at the last minute managed to get an almost painfully tight grip on her hair. She laughed as the wind rustled through her steel grey locks. It's like flying! But her eyes narrowed when she thought she heard something strange, and Zoro calling out about it confirmed her odd feeling. What the hell is making a call so loud that I can feel it in my bones?

"Nami! There's another mountain in front of us!" Luffy called from his seat.

"What? That's impossible!" Nami called back, but Sade saw her face drain of colour when she looked where Luffy was pointing.

When Sade caught sight of the humongous wall in front of their ship, her mouth flopped open for a moment. Damn, I can't communicate with sea creatures, she thought to herself. "Hm do you think it'll eat us?"

Usopp — who had previously just been staring and screaming — turned to her with an angry shout, "Why would a wall eat us?"

Sade gave him a calm smile, "Whatever it is, it's definitely alive, Usopp. See?" And she pointed to the giant eye that they could now see. Its eye alone was several times the size of the Merry, which was evidently too much for some of them. Usopp squeaked and seemed to spontaneously fall unconscious from the shock and fear.

"Sade! Put your shield up before we run into it! We can't get out of its way because the whipstaff is broken!" Nami screamed out from the galley, where Sanji was unsuccessfully trying to force the stub of wood to move.

"If I put a shield up we'll just crash into that instead of the whale. Is that preferable?" She called back, and blinked when she only received a scream in response.

"I don't think that's what she was hoping for," Zoro said beside her, and Sade nodded as though she understood.

"Don't worry! I have an idea! Shishishi," Luffy giggled to himself and disappeared.

Sade watched as they came closer and closer to crashing into the whale, when suddenly their cannon blasted off. The force of its explosion altered their course just enough that they diverted around the enormous whale. But before it got all the way over, the head of the Merry smashed into it and snapped off.

"Oh no, Merry!" Sade called out, and she lunged forward, trying to catch the figurehead before it could fall into the sea. Fortunately Zoro gave her a hand and together they managed to heave it back onto the deck.

"My special seat! How dare you, asshole!" Luffy cried out, and Sade couldn't help but laugh when she saw him reach out to shoot his fist directly into the monster's eye.

"I guess we're definitely going to get eaten now," she murmured, but no one heard her over Nami's screams.

Everything happened very fast after that: the whale turned to look at them, Nami wailed so loud that Usopp woke up just in time to realize they were all being swallowed and joined in the screaming, Zoro cursed, Sanji jumped to grab a hold of Nami so she wouldn't fall, Luffy disappeared somewhere, and Sade had just enough time to put on hand on the railing and one on Koinu before the entire ship was swallowed whole.

The only thing Sade could register once the violent ride settled down was the smell. Having a nose far more sensitive than a human's, Sade was immediately overwhelmed when the stench of acid and half-digested food slammed into her with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. She gasped and fell to the floor, her hands covering her nose as much as they possibly could. She opened her mouth to breathe but the stench just attacked her tongue instead and she choked. Some part of her noticed that her crew mates were calling out to her in concern, but she couldn't control herself at all. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, writhing as she desperately tried to breathe past the awful smell.

Someone grabbed her shoulders, and she managed to focus her eyes enough to see Zoro's pale and worried face above her. He was saying something, but her ears were buzzing too much for her to understand.

Her hand twitched, and Sade managed to grab Zoro almost violently by the collar. "Knock me out!" She cried.

He reared back and looked at her like she was crazy.

"Please! The smell —" she was cut off as she choked. "Don't let me wake up till we're out!" She tried again, and tears welled up in her eyes as her nose stung.

The last thing Sade saw was Zoro giving her a grim nod before she felt something collide with the base of her skull and she passed out into blissful unconsciousness.

* * *

Sade blinked slowly as she returned to awareness, and was pleasantly surprised that she only had a mild headache. She hesitantly took a breath, and gave a huge sigh of relief when all she could smell was the fresh sea air. "Thank god that's over," she muttered to herself.

Sanji must have noticed her movements, because he immediately came running over to her. "Sade! Thank goodness you're alright. Are you in any pain from that shitty moss-head? He tried to claim that you 'asked' him to do it but obviously that's a lie. Please, just say the word and I'll be more than happy to exact revenge for you!" He declared in his dramatic fashion, his eyes alight with fire at the idea of taking his fury out on the moss-head for her poor treatment.

Sade huffed out a laugh, but winced when she tried to sit up on her own and gratefully accepted Sanji's help as he leaned her against the railing and put a pillow behind her back. "That's okay, Sanji. I really did ask him to knock me out. I couldn't breathe in there through the smell," she explained, and had to laugh at the disappointment she saw all over his face at the news.

"By the way… what happened? Why are Usopp and Zoro reattaching the mast?"

"Oh, it's a ridiculous story. Well, it involves Luffy so of course it is. It all went something like this…" Sanji brightened as he saw a chance to get closer to one of the ladies, and he happily sat himself next to her and explained what she had missed.

Sade was fairly sure some parts of it were false and/or exaggerated — especially when Zoro "cried about how worthless he is", and Nami "flung himself into his arms declaring her undying love", but she got the general gist. The part where Luffy broke off the mast to fight the largest creature she'd ever seen was her favourite, though. Feeling better after resting for a while, Sade went off to go introduce herself to Laboon. The mark Luffy has painted on his head really was something to behold. They all spent the rest of the evening chatting and laughing while they waited for the ship to be fixed.

Finally it was time to go, but before they could all board, the two weirdos from earlier (as Sanji had described them) popped back up and begged Luffy to take them back to their hometown. Sade wasn't overly concerned about them, so she ignored them and went to go check on Koinu. Apparently her fluff ball had been knocked out by the smell, too. When she got to her napping spot, she found Koinu curled up in her blankets, fast asleep. I wonder who got all this out for him? When she sat down with him and took a curious whiff, she smiled to herself as she caught the hints of sake and rice clinging to the area. It smelled nice, and she didn't mind relaxing into a light doze as she waited for her crew mates to decide on their next adventure.

So the weirdos are coming with us. Sade didn't trust the newcomers, so while the others were following Nami's orders for the ship, Sade decided to position herself between their passengers and her crew mates. I am the guard after all. Being tossed around by the insane currents and weather was no fun, but she knew she couldn't help because she didn't want to leave Miss Wednesday and Mr Nine alone. She glanced around again and her green eyes widened when she noticed that while she had thought Zoro was sleeping next to her, he was actually awake and keeping one eye on their passengers as well.

"Nami's going to kill you for not helping, you know. What are you doing?" She asked through a yawn.

"She won't notice I'm awake. I'm watching those two, same as you," Zoro somehow managed to respond without visibly moving at all.

"You don't have to, you know. Luffy decided I'm to be the crew's guard, remember?"

Zoro shifted a bit and sighed. "Yeah, but there's two of them."

At this Sade couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "What's so funny?" He grumbled at her.

She shook her head. "We should spar sometime, Zoro."

This time it was Zoro's turn to react, and he was surprised enough to give up all pretense of sleep as he looked at her. "Why? What does that have to do with anything?"

Sade just shrugged. "It'll be good training. Might even help you relax a little. Besides, aren't you at all curious to know if you can cut me?"

Apparently this made Zoro uncomfortable enough that he would rather help navigate through the unruly ocean, because he got up to head over to the others who had collapsed in exhaustion. Before he got too far away she heard him mutter, "There's nothing I can't cut," to himself. 

**I hope you enjoyed that! Sorry I took so long to post again! **


	4. She Gets Some Time to Play

"Guys! I can see the island! Our first island in the Grand Line!" Luffy's excited shout pulled Sade out of her thoughts. She'd been quietly resting in her spot against the railing, giving Koinu treats and keeping her eyes on Wednesday and Nine. Hearing this, their guests took the opportunity to leap off the Merry, shouting a quick thanks and goodbye as they went.

Sade took the opportunity to gently wake up Koinu. "Hey little guy, we're going to reach our first island soon! Can you do me a favour?" She asked him, and the skunk quickly perked up, tail fluffing out as he looked at her happily.

"Can you watch over the ship while we're gone? And use your funny stinky pee on anyone that tries to mess with it?" Sade didn't want to risk him getting hurt, and she was happy to see him give her a serious squeak of determination in return. What a good dog she had.

"W-wait! Guys, are we sure we should go? What if there are monsters?" Usopp called out from where he was shaking and hiding behind the mast.

Nami whacked him on the head. "We have to go anyway! Idiot! Didn't you listen to Crocus explaining the log pose? We have to wait for it to set!"

"Besides, there are already a lot of people here," Zoro added calmly with one hand on his swords.

This brought everyone's attention back to the island that they were pulling up to. Zoro was right, through the mist, Sade could see the outlines of several people waiting on the docks. Before she could prepare for a fight though, she heard a shout. "Welcome, Pirates, to Whiskey Peak!"

With that call, a loud cheer went up, and suddenly Sade and the others were being pulled into a grand celebration. Luffy was ecstatically following the mayor further into town at the promise of lots of food. Sanji was in heaven, surrounded by beautiful women who were fawning over him, while Usopp seemed to have found people who were more than happy to listen to his many tales. Sending a final wave at Koinu, Sade went along, cautiously sticking closer to Nami and Zoro, who also seemed aware that not everything was as it seemed.

"We need to wait for the right moment," she heard Zoro whisper in her ear. For some reason, the sensation of his warm breath tickling her ear gave Sade a shiver, but she ignored it and nodded to let him know she understood.

With that, Sade entered the bar behind the others, and quickly found herself a nice corner where she asked the townspeople to bring her some pillows and blankets. Settling down in her nest, Sade kept one eye cracked open so she could wait for her moment like Zoro said. One by one, the rest of her crew passed out in various places around the room. Eventually Zoro was the last one still awake, before he pretended to be knocked out by the alcohol, and all of the townspeople still in the room carefully made their way outside.

Sade remained still even as she heard Zoro sneaking out behind them, and Nami leaving by the back door. She only stirred when her ears picked up the sounds of swords clashing and people crying out. Her eyes snapped all the way open and she smirked as she made her way out of the bar. Now it's my turn to let loose and have some fun. It's been a while since I've gotten to hunt.

* * *

Zoro ducked behind a building to catch his breath between fights. The bounty hunters were all small fry but the running around was tiring and he needed a small break. He was caught off guard, though, when he noticed that he could still hear them crying out in surprise and pain. Who else is out here? He quickly lunged back into the fray, but kept himself on the lookout this time to spot the other fighter. Several opponents later and Zoro was frustrated. As he slashed at the bounty hunters closing in on him from the left and dodged the bullets coming from the mayor's crazy instrument he caught another glimpse of the mystery person. All he could pick out was a blur of darkness and gold — usually accompanied by a scream — and then nothing.

* * *

Sade smirked to herself as she dashed down another alley toward an unsuspecting bounty hunter. When she reached him she jumped up, bit down and turned her head, ripping through his arm. Once she was certain he was unconscious, she flicked her ears around and listened carefully for any other opponents. She casually turned and used her paw to smack down the gun of the man creeping up behind her, and slashed open his chest with the claws of her other paw. Hearing no others in her vicinity, Sade decided to regroup with her crewmates. Slinking out of the shadows, she took a moment to stretch out her legs before trotting off to where she could hear the distinct sounds of Zoro's grumbling. He should really be warned about how loud he is when he's complaining.

Turning the final corner, Sade caught sight of Zoro and couldn't help but quiet her steps when she noticed he hadn't seen her yet. She prowled up right behind him and quickly nuzzled her head into his shoulder when she got close enough.  
Zoro's reaction was fast and terrifying. One step behind him and he must have caught some sign of her because as she nudged him he was already turning and drawing out two of his swords. They slammed into her on both sides, and she let out a low growl at the impact. That might leave a bruise, he's strong! Finally he managed to get a look at her and froze in place just before his next attack. Sade didn't move at all and just stared at him with a lazy grin.

"...Sade?" He finally asked, tentatively.

Sade didn't blame him for his shock. She was in her full Leo form. A huge cat, only slightly smaller than a horse, she would look surprising to anyone. Though many people assumed her Leo form would be a lion, she only really took after them in build (of course she's far bigger than any lion, though). Her fur was the same dark steel grey colour as her human hair, and while she didn't have a mane, her Leo form's coat was very long - it even fluffed off of the back of her legs in long tufts, and the same on her cheeks and ears. Her tail was different from a lion's as well. It was equally as long as her large body, and rather wide. It too, had long hair tufting out. Her Leo mark transferred to this form as well. Glowing gold lines spread across her face to form her symbol. As well as five bands of gold: one around each foot and one around her neck.

"Yeah, it's me," She eventually responded to him after giving him a moment or two to examine her. "You finished fighting, too?" She continued through a yawn. In hindsight, she should have reconsidered putting her needle sharp, massive teeth on clear display to a man already on edge..but she was tired from cutting short her nap earlier and she wasn't offended by his tightened grip on his katanas.

"Yeah...Wait, shouldn't you be bleeding? Fuck, I definitely cut you! Why the hell would you sneak up on me like that?! Shit!" Zoro paled as he began to panic.

"Oi, oi, don't worry so much. I told you, you can't cut me, remember? Not in this form, at least," Sade quickly nudged him with her head again to snap his head out of his panic. For a moment, she saw him scowl as she brought up his inability to cut her and she smiled as she turned to expose her side to him so he could check for damage himself. He ran his hand up her side and his mouth dropped open when he didn't feel the slightest wound.

"How is that possible?" He murmured to himself.

Instead of responding, Sade took the opportunity to butt her head into the palm of his hand. Zoro was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't really pay attention to her until he heard her purring and noticed he was scratching her behind the - wow, so soft - ears.

"OIIIII! Zoro! Why are you hurting the nice people who gave us food?! What is wrong with you!" Sade and Zoro both snapped their heads to the side to see Luffy charging down the road like a mad bull.

Zoro sighed and Sade laughed to herself. Of course Luffy wouldn't notice anything was amiss. Zoro started to explain the situation to Luffy, but he was already upon them with his fist cocked back, ready for a fight. At the last second, however, Luffy's eyes glanced over at her and he froze completely at the sight of her.

"A-a-AMAZING!" Luffy gasped in delight as he looked at her, his eyes shining like huge stars. "Zoro! Did you make this cat your pet? Can we keep it? Oh my god!" He yelled and sparkled and waved his arms up and down in delight.

"Luffy, it's me, Sade. This is my Leo form," Sade explained when he finally slowed down enough to hear her.

She hadn't thought it possible, but this brought Luffy to new levels of delight as he first realised that the cat could talk, then that the cat was actually his crew's guard, and finally that she was big enough to carry a person or two. Sade's heart grew warm when Luffy's eyes grew impossibly wide and he poked out his bottom lip before asking her, "Sade...can we go for a ride?"  
She grinned at him with her teeth on full display. "Of course, Captain."

He gave a shout of joy and threw himself onto her back with vigor. Out of the corner of her eye, Sade saw Nami running toward them with an enraged expression. Quickly deciding to avoid that train wreck, Sade didn't give Luffy a chance to adjust, and took off at her top speed down the nearest alley. Luffy gave another whoop as he almost bounced off and had to quickly wrap his arms around her neck several times to get a good grip. Unaffected, Sade jumped up some nearby stairs, bounded to the roof, and from there set off across the rooftops. She let out her own laugh of joy as she stretched out her legs for the first time in what felt like forever. Enjoying the strain, she pushed herself to go faster and became almost a blur to onlookers.

"Oh, what's that?" She heard Luffy ask as he caught sight of something. Without warning he switched his grip by wrapping his legs around her waist several times and let go of her neck. He took a second to regain his balance.

When she saw Luffy's hand stretch out above her and grab a hold of something, Sade made possibly the best decision of her life. Instead of wasting time arguing with him, Sade simply braced her knees and prepared to jump along with him.

Because of this, when Luffy reeled them up, it actually went rather well as she managed to guide her body with the jump, and he stabilized her as much as he could. When they landed among the graves littering the hill above the town, Sade didn't even have to pause before she was already running off, leaving a small crater in their wake. Luffy cackled above her and leaned in to her ear.

"Sade….we just have to train this for combat!"

Instead of responding, Sade let out her loudest roar, which shook Luffy through his whole body, and continued to run. They didn't know it, but their combined skills like this would allow them to get into far more mischief than either would have managed alone. Without knowing why, Nami and Usopp (even in his sleep) both shivered as they felt a cold feeling of dread.

All too soon, Sade and Luffy had to cut their adventure short as they could hear Nami and Zoro calling for them. "Alright Sade! Let's take a shortcut back!" Sade laughed when she understood his plan, and prepared herself again.

"Gum-gum Rocket!" Luffy called, and together they flew through the air with ease.

Spotting their nakama on the ground, they both managed to direct their fall so they wouldn't land on anyone. Luffy's ecstatic laughter caught Nami and Zoro's attention, and their mouths dropped open at the sight of the giant steel-grey cat flying toward them with their captain on top. A cloud of dust kicked up as they crashed to the ground, and Nami waited anxiously for the smoke to clear and expose the aftermath. When it did, she and Zoro were both caught by surprise as their eyes bulged out. Standing completely unharmed in the center of a deep crater was Sade in her Leo form, with Luffy sitting proudly on top, one hand keeping his hat steady.

"Huh, I guess cats really do always land on their feet," Sade said to herself, sounding mildly surprised.

"What the hell? How did you survive falling from that height?!" Nami practically screamed as she waved her fist in their direction. She'd already been informed by Zoro about Sade's Leo form. Said swordsman was quickly taking a second to relax his tightly clenched fists before anyone could notice how worried he'd been.

"Oh, sorry to worry you, Nami. You can relax though! This form is practically indestructible; I've actually never encountered anything strong enough to damage me when I'm like this beyond the occasional bruise," Sade explained as Luffy slid off her back and they climbed out of the crater.

"So what's going on, guys? Why were you calling us?" Luffy asked, picking his nose. Sade sat and nuzzled her head under his other hand, and got some good scratches for her effort. She turned her eyes to her crew mates and waited for their explanation, tail flicking behind her.

"That's right! My one billion berries!" Nami shouted as she remembered the whole reason she was doing this. Zoro shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Guys, it's a long story but I promised the old guy with the curly hair we'd keep his princess safe! If we get her back home we get a billion berries!" She explained, her eyes turning into berri signs at the thought of so much money. "Come on over here, Vivi!" She called out.

From behind a nearby building Miss Wednesday stepped out, timidly looking around at the newcomers. "Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to cause you trouble, I'm just looking for Igaram. You don't have to go to all this trouble! My enemy is too powerful for you to face, please don't get caught up in this!"

Sade and Luffy exchanged completely lost looks. Zoro sighed as he saw their faces, and continued the explanation. "After you two ran off," he sent a fierce glare, "a few of the stronger bounty hunters showed up. At first I was just fighting them like normal, but then some other ones came—"

"That was Mr Five and Miss Valentine," Vivi cut in.

"—and they were trying to fight curly-hair old man and Vivi here. Apparently they're both spies for a country somewhere," Zoro continued.

"Yes, I'm the princess of Alabasta and Igaram is my precious advisor," Vivi jumped in again when it became obvious that he definitely needed the help.

"...so I beat those guys up too. Vivi here needs to get home because there's a civil war that was started by these Baroque Works guys, and she wants to stop it," Zoro nodded to himself, satisfied that he'd explained everything enough.

"That's right! Don't forget that if we take her home we get a billion berries!" Nami reminded the group, still picturing all the wonderful things she could do with such money.

Vivi's brow furrowed, "We really don't have that kind of money… But that's not important! You all seem so kind, I couldn't bear it if you got hurt because of my problems. After all, the man in charge of Baroque Works, Mr Zero, is a monster. He'd hunt you down if he knew you were helping me! Not to mention that he'd hunt anyone down that so much as found out his name! So please, just get out of here! You all really wouldn't stand a chance against the Warlord, Crocodile!"

There was a short, stunned silence among the group before Nami lunged across the space between them and slapped her palm against Vivi's mouth. "You just told us his name!"

Vivi blanched and began to sweat profusely when she realised what she'd done. Luffy just brushed it off, though. "Ah well, that's okay! I like you, you seem nice! We'll take you home, right guys?"

Zoro, looking amused, nodded and pulled Nami off of their new passenger. "She's already said it, Nami. She can't take it back now."

Nami abruptly gained her energy back, and shot out of Zoro's grip. "That's right! They haven't seen us yet, we can still escape!"

Of course, the world had to prove her wrong, and a nearby pair of animals (an oddly dressed vulture and otter) dropped some sketches of the group as the vulture took off somewhere.

"Oh no! Those are the Unluckies! Now Crocodile will definitely know about you guys," Vivi gasped and looked dismayed.

Nami collapsed to the floor, unable to continue under so much stress. Just then, Igaram found them in the clearing. "Princess Vivi-sama! I'm so glad I found you safe. Please don't worry, I have a plan!"

Sade choked on her laugh as she saw how ridiculously dressed the man was. "I'll use our eternal pose to head straight for Alabasta with these decoys. You go with these pirates and take the indirect route. I've never done it, but Alabasta should only be two or three islands away. Stay safe! I will meet you at home!"

With that proud declaration, and a tearful hug from Vivi, Igaram set out on his small ship. The others gathered around Vivi to watch him sail off. To their extreme horror, however, before he could sail over the horizon, the whole ship exploded in a brilliant burst of light.

Vivi screamed in dismay, and Nami was quick to pull her into a hug. Luffy gave a shout of anger and his grip tightened in Sade's fur. Had she not been almost indestructible, it would have hurt like hell.

"Come on, we need to get back to the ship and get a move on if they're already onto us," Zoro warned them.

Sade decided she might as well help, even though she was loathe to move away from Luffy's scratches. Stretching as she got to her feet, she ambled up to the hugging women. "Come on, I'll give you a ride. Let me concentrate on getting us out of here," she said, and crouched down so they could jump on.

"Cat-san...thank you," Vivi whispered as Nami pulled her up.

"I'm sorry about your friend. I liked him, he gave me a pillow to nap with," came Sade's response before she loped off to catch up with Zoro. Luffy went to go collect Usopp and Sanji.

Everyone arrived back at the Merry at the same time, with only Usopp and Sanji worse for wear — apparently the good captain figured dragging them by a leg or a nose was easier than waking them up. Sade jumped onto the deck and knelt down to allow Vivi and Nami to slide off her back, once they were clear she glowed for a brief moment before she was back in her human form. There was a quick moment of panic when Vivi noticed Karoo wasn't with them, but that quickly settled down when Zoro found him already lounging on deck. Hilariously, it seemed he and Koinu had come to be friends quite quickly, as the little fluff ball was perched on Karoo's hat and neither of them were willing to let him get off. Wasting no time, the crew quickly set off from Whiskey Peak, eager to put some distance between themselves and Baroque Works.

Sade was just about to relax her guard when she heard unusual splashing. Taking a peak over the railing, Sade was surprised to see a giant turtle...that was wearing a cowboy hat, smoking a cigarette, and had a shaded chair saddled atop its shell.

"Hey Zoro, look, there's a turtle that looks like Sanji," Sade called to the swordsman before turning back to stare at the turtle some more.

"Eh? I wanna see!" Luffy shouted, and stretched his arm across the ship to grab the railing next to her. Sade calmly took a step to the side so Luffy's careening body wouldn't smash her into the wood. Usopp and Zoro joined them, peering over the railing to get a better look. Even Karoo and Koinu leaned over to look. They sniffed curiously and then went back to trying to steal food out of the kitchen.

Usopp and Luffy each took one look at the turtle and quickly collapsed in a pile together, laughing loudly. "Th-that doesn't look like Sanji at all! It's just a smoking turtle in a cowboy hat!" Usopp choked out.

The boys paused at his words however, and their eyes turned to stars. "SO COOL! A smoking turtle in a cowboy hat! Let's make it our friend!" Luffy screamed out, leaning almost entirely over the railing. Usopp nodded eagerly, still twinkling in amazement.

Zoro just chuckled quietly to himself, and glanced over at Sade who was resting her head in her palm next to him. "That turtle looks like an old man," he commented gruffly.

Sade just smiled lazily at him. "That's why I thought you'd laugh."

Zoro blinked as he looked into her green eyes. He felt startled for a moment that someone else was willing to join in his favourite humour of teasing the shitty cook. When the shock faded he smirked back at her and turned to look at the odd turtle again.

"Still..what is it doing here?" He wondered aloud.

"Oh, have we made it away from the bounty hunters? Well done, guys. Be sure to look out for shallow reefs," a calm voice warned them.

"Yeah, thanks, I'm keeping an eye ou—WAIT! Who are you?" Nami had begun to answer the voice just as calmly before she suddenly realized that she didn't recognize the speaker.

Her shriek pulled the others from their fun with the turtle, and they turned to see a curious woman lounging on their upper deck. Luffy leapt up with a shout and put his fists up, Zoro pulled his katana half-way out of the sheath, and Usopp was quick to aim a fire star in her direction despite his knees visibly quaking. Sade kept an eye on the woman and slowly stood up straight. Sanji, hearing an unusual amount of disturbance, stepped out of the kitchen and quickly aimed a gun at the woman who made his navigator scream. (The gun was of course unloaded — he could never aim a dangerous weapon at a woman — but she didn't know that.) Koinu, spotting a chance, quickly led Karoo into the kitchen and the two began to munch on whatever snacks they could find while the chef was distracted.

"My, my, please don't aim such dangerous weapons at me," the woman spoke again. Before any of them could react, they found their weapons knocked out of their hands, and Luffy's hat was being twirled in her hands.

"Hey, give that back!" He called out to her.

Vivi suddenly pulled everyone's attention to herself when she let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. "That's..that's Miss All Sunday! She's Crocodile's partner! Igaram and I tailed her one time, that's how we found out Mr Zero's identity! Be careful!" She warned them.

Sade raised an eyebrow and looked back at the intruder. "So she's a bad guy?" Luffy asked as he began to crack his knuckles.

"Well...it would be more fair to say I let you tail me. I just couldn't help but want to see what a lonely princess of Alabasta would do against such odds," was Miss All Sunday's casual response as she examined Luffy's hat.

This knocked some of the wind out of Luffy's sails and he lowered his fists. "Oh, so she's a good guy?"

"I just saw your friend Mr Nine, he got in a bit of an accident I'm afraid," the woman continued. Hearing this, Vivi's pupils shrank to pinpoints and she covered her mouth to stifle a cry.

Sade's brow furrowed and she pushed herself off the railing. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she couldn't stand to see that look in her new friend's eye. She stilled however, when she felt Zoro's —warm— hand on her arm. "Let Luffy decide what we do," he quietly reminded her. She wanted to protest, but seeing how tense his shoulders were, she knew that he must be holding himself back as well. He really is a selfless person, huh?

"I didn't come to start a fight though, I have no orders for that. I just wanted to warn you. The path you're on is going to take you to an island that will do our organization's work for us. No one leaves Little Garden alive. This is an eternal pose for an island off our radar, no one will look for you there," Miss All Sunday drew Sade and Zoro's attention back to her as she tossed the eternal pose into Vivi's hands.

Vivi looked at what she was holding, a lost expression on her face. "I can't tell...is this a trap or not?" Vivi was about to turn to Nami for help, when suddenly Luffy crushed the pose with a single motion.

"YOU DON'T GET TO CHOOSE THIS SHIP'S COURSE!" He screamed at her, finally settling on anger. "Besides, you hurt the curly-haired old man and I liked that guy!"

Miss All Sunday didn't seem at all bothered by this, and just chuckled lightly as she tossed Luffy's hat back to him. "Very well, I hope we meet again. I don't dislike direct men," she called, before she jumped off the ship and took off on the smoking turtle from earlier.

Luffy stuck his tongue out at her and blew a raspberry in response before running after Sanji, demanding food. Usopp seemed to finally deflate as the tension faded from the ship, and he stumbled after Luffy hoping that some food would restore his nerves. Seeing the danger had passed, Sade relaxed a little as Zoro did the same next to her. "What a shame, I guess the turtle was just here to carry Miss All Sunday. I thought we might have had a new friend," Sade muttered to herself before heading off to check on Vivi. She didn't see Zoro send her an incredulous look before he softened and laughed again.

* * *

Sade rested casually next to Vivi, who was staring down at her hands as though they held all the answers she needed.

"Say, is that really okay?" Vivi asked, gesturing to where Usopp and Luffy were excitedly fishing and Zoro was taking a nap.

Sade yawned, "Sure it is, those two love fishing and Zoro can sleep through almost anything so they won't bother him."

When she got no response, Sade glanced over at Vivi and saw the princess staring at her with her mouth hanging open. They held eye contact like that for a moment before Vivi blushed and snapped her mouth closed. Sade took another moment before she understood what Vivi had actually meant.

"Oh you mean in regards to defending the ship?" She asked to clarify. When Vivi nodded, Sade continued as she scratched the back of her head. "Well...we're strong, so it's okay, you know?"

From the second blank stare she received, Sade knew she wasn't making any sense to their new friend, but she hadn't spent enough time around other people to learn how to comfort someone. She had no proper parental figures, and Aimee had learned very early on how to take care of herself. Sade had tried to take care of her sister, but between her parents' beatings and doing every chore they could think up, she had always gotten to Aimee a bit too late, and the girl had taught herself how to always keep up a sunny disposition. Now that Sade was with a friend who was directly asking for comfort, she was at a loss beyond trying to explain why she herself wasn't worried. Apparently "we're strong" wasn't enough of a reason.

"Sorry, I'm no good at this stuff. Maybe try Sanji? He'd be overjoyed to spend time with you and his favourite hobby is protecting women," Sade murmured, blushing as she ducked her head down.

She was startled to feel Vivi's arms circling her in a warm hug. "Thank you for your help, you're very kind," the princess muttered into her steel grey hair. Sade gave her one last lazy smile and Vivi left to go see who she could help out with chores.

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the kitchen, and Karoo came bursting out of the door with several red lumps on his head. Koinu was unceremoniously tossed out after him, sporting similar lumps. "Never touch the precious food I prepare for the ladies of this ship!" Sanji shouted at them from the door to the galley.

The crew laughed at the two poor animals before they went back to their usual tasks, and the days passed by like this as they sailed to the next island. Sade spent her days napping on deck, or in her new favourite spot: the crow's nest. She didn't really have a normal sleeping pattern thanks to her early exposure to a nocturnal animal's instincts, so she spent her nights either training, napping, or keeping watch. She made sure to spend part of each day interacting with the others, determined to learn how to be a better friend.

She would sit with Sanji in the kitchen and chat with him while he cooked, sometimes he would tell her and Vivi stories about the crew from before they were on board. Nami told her all about her horrible history with Arlong late one night as they star-gazed on the deck, and Sade in return shared some of the things her parents had done. Luffy had taken to seeking her out sometimes for various things. He could tell she liked being included, even if she didn't always want to get involved. He would lean against her Leo form with Usopp while they fished, or he would pull her over to show her something he'd found on the ship. Sometimes if she let him try pieces of her raw meat, he would even let her sit on his special seat.

Two days into their trip, and Sade remembered that she wanted to spar with Zoro when she could. Wanting to have a proper weapon that she could use in her hybrid form, she sought out Usopp with her idea. Back on Diver's Island, she had mostly fought in her Leo form when necessary, but she had made use of her weapon occasionally, especially when fishing. It had broken shortly before the Straw Hats had arrived and she hadn't bothered to replace it until now. When she asked Usopp to help make a weapon for her, he was more than happy to oblige and she got the feeling that he liked being useful in these ways. He was incredibly confused when she described what she needed, but at her reassurance he shrugged and got started anyway.

The next day Usopp brought it to her and it was perfect. A hollow yet sturdy metal pipe that was just over a foot long. It was wrapped in dark leather to make it easier to grip, and he had painted their Jolly Roger's mark onto it. She purred in happiness and bumped her head into his chin when she hugged him. He yelped a bit at that, but then laughed and allowed her to nuzzle him. It had taken the crew some time to adjust to her nuzzles and head butts, but to everyone's surprise, it had been Luffy that settled the matter. He had been propped up against her Leo form while fishing, and when he had let her eat one that he caught fresh from the sea, she had nuzzled her head under his chin in thanks. The next thing she knew, he had jumped up from his spot, threw a finger out to point at her and yelled out, "Is that why you're doing that?! Because you're a cat?!"

That sent her into a fit of laughter, especially as the rest of the Straw Hats on board all stared at them with wide eyes and blushing faces as they realized how obvious of an answer that was. How none of the rest of them had recognized such an obvious cat-like behavior until Luffy spelled it out for them was beyond reason. Nami, Sanji, and Usopp especially collapsed from shame, muttering about how it was confusing when a human did those things — how were they supposed to know? Sanji of course recovered quickly happily took every opportunity he could to illicit nuzzles from her after that, and she was happy to have someone on board so accepting of her nature. Vivi also liked to take advantage of her cat-nature, sometimes seeking her out for long petting sessions that helped relax them both. Zoro just smirked to himself, glad that he hadn't bothered to worry about it in the first place.

Sade had spent some time with Zoro during the trip, as well. Because they both had odd sleeping schedules, they usually took more night-watch shifts than the others. Sometimes they wound up on watch together, and those were the nights Sade liked best. The two usually just sat quietly together, occasionally discussing this or that, but mostly just enjoying the peace. Sometimes one would train while the other watched, and Sade found that feeling his eyes on her while she tested herself gave her a sense of security that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Her training regimen was not quite as crazy as Zoro's with his ridiculous weights. Sade liked to train in speed, mostly. When in her hybrid form, each hand and foot could control one aspect of her light. Mostly she used that to create barriers just under her feet so she can seemingly run on air — though if she wanted she could use her feet to create a horizontal wall that could act as a path for others to run on. Sade would use her hands to make normal barriers to defend against attacks, and using both hands she could make her Ultimate Reject: Fortress. She mostly trained with her running speed and her weapon, however. It had been a few months since she'd last used it and she wanted to make sure her skills were still up to par.

Sade used the metal tube (that Usopp was calling Horo for some reason) in tandem with her light to create the perfect weapon for her. She would fill Horo with the light, until it was in the same cylindrical shape, and then she could extend the light out of the metal casing, creating essentially an indestructible bo staff with a metal and leather handle that she could extend or retract at will. It felt good to have the staff in her hands again, and she spent hours going through all her stances happily.

Four nights into their trip and Sade and Zoro were sharing the night shift again. She was about an hour into her training when Zoro asked her about her light. "I thought zoan users just turned into animals," he said quietly, so as not to disturb her concentration.

Sade finished the next few stances before she took a break and sat down to answer him, turning from her hybrid form back to her human form and watching her staff turn back into just a handle. "I'm honestly not really sure where the light comes from," she shrugged.

"Seeing as I can only really control it in my hybrid form, I assume it has to be because the original Leo Cat has control over it. I have no idea what it's made of, though, or why I can't use it in my Leo form."

Zoro's brow furrowed as he thought her words over. Sade relaxed against the railing in the silence. Suddenly she let out a chuckle, and explained at Zoro's questioning look, "It's dead useful though. Still not curious to know if you can cut it?"

He sent her a smirk at that, "Fine, you win. Next chance we get, let's spar."

* * *

A little more than a week later, and Sade was startled from her latest nap by Luffy's excited shouts. "Little Garden! I can see it! Straight ahead!" His arms waved wildly in the air as he vibrated with anticipation.

Sade groaned but didn't move from her position, opting to watch with one eye cracked open as the crew pulled Merry closer to shore. Napping on her head, Koinu opened one of his eyes in tandem.

"...still, I wonder why they call it Little Garden?" Nami said to no one in particular as they drifted further inland on a river they'd found.

Before anyone could contemplate it further, a giant tiger about the same size as Sade's Leo form stumbled out from between the trees and immediately collapsed with a snarl. Blood soon visibly pooled underneath it. Seeing this, Usopp screeched in fear and leapt behind Zoro, the sound of his knees knocking together audible to everyone on the ship. Nami similarly panicked and moved closer to Sanji, who swooned in delight.

Of course, seeing the tiger only excited Luffy. "Yosh! Time for an adventure! Sanji, prepare a pirate lunchbox!" He ordered, as he began doing warm up stretches in anticipation.

Sade's eyebrows rose up when Vivi politely asked if she could join him, and smiled when Vivi explained that an adventure would help her stop worrying so much. Sade picked herself up and wandered over to join them.

"Oh, you want to adventure too, Cat-san?" Vivi asked her with a warm smile.

Sade yawned for a long moment before she managed to speak, "Adventure is one of the few things worth disturbing a nap for!" She grinned back at the giggling Vivi. Grabbing some food for Koinu from her pouch, she placed both him and the food on the deck. "Think you can keep watch again, little man?" She asked, and he chirped in response.

And so, a few minutes later they jumped off the Merry and onto the soft grass of Little Garden, Sanji's pirate lunch boxes safely in Luffy's backpack. They had good fun trooping through the jungle — Luffy even found some shells he thought were cool in a nearby stream, which shocked Vivi as she explained to the other two that those shells were supposed to be extinct.

Eventually after wandering far enough, they stumbled upon an actual dinosaur. It's neck was stretched high into the treetops as it chomped on the leafy canopy. Vivi gasped and Luffy gave a loud enough shout of excitement that the giant creature turned its head to find the source of the noise. Seeing as it had noticed them, Sade quickly reached out with her calming presence. The dinosaur's eyes widened, and it turned to fully face them before craning its neck down to their level for a better look. Vivi squeaked and jumped behind Luffy, but Sade and her captain just stood still and allowed it to come as close as it wanted. She reached out a hand to pat its nose, and giggled when the air it huffed out rustled her hair and clothes.

"How exciting! Let's ride it!" Luffy cackled and jumped onto the creature's head.

Sade didn't even stop to contemplate before she followed behind him, leaving Vivi calling after them in concern as the dinosaur straightened back up.

"This is amazing!" Sade had to yell for Luffy to hear her over the wind in their ears as they were lifted high into the air on the dinosaur's head.

Once the dinosaur was back upright, it seemed content to ignore them and went right back to chewing on the tree leaves. "Woah, Sade! Look over there!" Luffy exclaimed.

Sade turned in the direction of his pointed finger, and her mouth dropped into a wide grin when she saw the giant active volcano in the distance. Luffy began to describe it to Vivi, who Sade could hear was still shouting about the dangers of standing on dinosaur heads.

"What's up with that mountain full of holes?!" Sade pulled Luffy's attention back to the giant shapes they could see in the distance, and he was immediately curious.

"Let's ask the dinosaur to take us there!" He called, and promptly leaned around its head to look directly into its eyeball.

A few moments later he popped back up with a pout. "The dinosaur is ignoring me!"

And before Sade could offer to talk to it for him, Luffy grabbed the dinosaur around the neck and twisted it as hard as he could toward the mountain.

The dinosaur's loud wail of pain drowned out Sade's own shout as the sudden movement dislodged her feet, and she slid down its neck. She heard Luffy call out after her, but there wasn't much she could do. Tumbling too fast to stop herself, she could only laugh as she continued to slide across its back and down its tail. Sade noticed that the dinosaur's tail was flicked up at the end and she was going to go flying into the jungle, but she knew there was no stopping it now.

Sade laughed as she was flung into the air, and curled herself into a ball as best she could to brace for impact. She let out a grunt as she crashed straight through the first tree, and had to grit her teeth to keep from calling out after crashing through another three. Finally, she hit the ground, leaving a deep trench for a few meters before she was stopped by a large white dome.

"...oh my head," Sade muttered, rubbing at her brow in an attempt to stop the dizziness from taking over. She only had a few scrapes and bruises, but tumbling down the dinosaur and twisting through the air had rattled her brain a bit. Guess I'm more durable than I thought, Sade giggled to herself.

"What the hell is this, anyway?" She took a moment to examine her surroundings.

She was still in the same jungle, everything looked as usual, except for the strange white dome that sat in the center of the clearing. There wasn't even a mark from where she'd careened into it.

"Oh ho ho, what do we have here..?" A man called out.

Sade spun around to the source of the voice, only to find five strange people staring back at her. There was a man with the number three for hair, an incredibly tall man with sunglasses, a woman with a yellow hat, a little girl with clouds on her sweater, and a man with two whips that was licking his lips as he watched her.

"Who the hell are you guys?" She asked casually.

The little girl giggled at that, but the man with the number three for hair just spluttered and looked outraged. "How dare you ask us that?! Can't you see we're secret agents?" He demanded.

…

There was a long silence as Sade stared blankly and the others with Three all gaped at the man in shock.

"You guys, don't deviate from the plan. I was just here to be the extra support anyway, so I'll take out this one. One little girl can't be too hard anyway, gyihahahahaha," the creepy whip man took steps toward her while he waved off his friends.

Sade shifted so one of her hands was hovering over Horo, and kept a wary eye on the whip man and the other four in the clearing.

Sunglasses man sighed and nodded, "Okay, just make sure you kill her. She's definitely one of our targets."

With that said, the other three strangers followed Sunglasses man into the jungle and Sade lost sight of them. "Oi, where are you looking, little girl? Didn't you hear him? I'm going to kill you, gyihahahahahaha!"

She ignored him and his insane laugh for a second while she thought things over. One of our targets? Hmm why does that make me feel like I should remember something important?

"Hey! What the hell?! I'm talking to you!" The man continued to rant as Sade remained stoically in place, contemplating.

Targets...targets...something that happened to make me a target… Her brow furrowed as she thought as hard as she could.

"Oh, I get it! The little girl is so scared she can't even move..gyihahahah!" Sade didn't even spare him a glance as he cackled and started walking closer to her.

Something to do with Vivi, right? Hmm I just can't remember what it was…

"Say your prayers, little girl!" The man yelled at her as he finally closed the distance between them and pulled his whips off his belt, one in either hand.

When he finally entered her field of vision, Sade looked up, startled. She came face-to-face with the creepy, oily man and immediately noted the whips that were speeding through the air toward her.

"Hybrid," she called out calmly. With the whips bearing down and the man's ugly grin too close for comfort, Sade slapped her hands together and parted them quickly as their glow enveloped her figure. "Fortress!"

Now then, where was I? She thought to herself, completely ignoring the man now outside of her bubble. His face turned red in anger and confusion as his cackle was cut short due to his whips crashing uselessly into her light barrier. They came down with what would have been tremendous force, only to fall uselessly as the barrier dispersed their attack.

"The fuck?" The man exclaimed. "Hah! Like such a flimsy thing could stop Mr Six! Gyihahahaha! I'll keep whipping it until you break!"

Sade spared the man a blank look, and then returned to her thoughts. Vivi, targets, strange people with numbers for names…Oh! She nodded slowly to herself as she finally remembered why the Straw Hats were targets of these people.

"You're from that group, right?! Broken Workers? Alright, I'll fight you then," both hands still glowing, she dropped her fist onto her palm decisively.

"IT'S BAROQUE WORKS you little shit!" Six screamed at her before doubling down on his whip strikes.

Sade watched calmly from behind her fortress, waiting for an opening. He paused to take a breath between attacks, and she moved.

Sade dropped her fortress and pulled out Horo, creating her staff at a moment's notice and jumped up to slam it down on his head. Six saw her coming and managed to tumble out of the way, causing her attack to slam uselessly into the ground. He stared at the crater she had left with a serious face, finally taking her as a real opponent.

"Gyihahaha I do love a challenge, it's so fun to hear the tough ones scream," He leered at her.

Sade ignored him and allowed herself to drift into her more predatory mindset. She dropped into a crouch and began to circle him, searching for his weak spots and openings in his guard. Spotting one, she lunged forward with her staff but he managed to deflect it with one whip while the other circled around her ankle before she could stop it.

"Shit!" She cursed as he turned and flung her body as hard as he could. She quickly held up the hand that wasn't wielding Horo and created a small light barrier to absorb the shock of her flight, allowing her to land lightly on her feet, unharmed.

Sade was about to jump back into her fight, when Six started up with his insane laughter again. "Gyihahaha! You're done for now! These whips are coated in a deadly toxin! It touched your ankle so you'll be down in a few moments! Gyihahahahah!"

Her eyes widened for a moment when she heard his declaration, but a quick glance down at her ankle confirmed that she was fine. Anywhere my Leo fur grows is just about impenetrable, the poison can't hurt me there. I'm glad he told me though, I'll have to watch out for my exposed skin. The Leo fur only grew from feet to knees and hands to elbows. Without giving him any more time to gloat, she leapt forward and managed to land a solid strike to his knee while he was distracted.

Six bellowed out in pain, and slid to the side a few feet, but managed to retain his footing despite the satisfying crunch noise she heard from her hit. In the moment he took to recover, she was already behind him and she slashed down his back with her clawed hand.

He dove into a forward role to avoid taking any more damage, and Sade dropped back into her predatory crouch, baring her sharp teeth.

"What kind of freak are you? The poison doesn't even work?!" He half-asked, half-screamed at her. Instead of responding, Sade just let out a rumbling growl.

"Gyihahaha if you're that much of an animal, I'll have fun bringing your pelt to Mr Zero for him to display!" He shouted and jumped forward, slashing both whips at her.

Trading blows, the two began to almost dance around each other. When Six missed a hit, his whips tore down the trees surrounding them, and Sade's staff left several craters in the ground. She dodged or blocked his whips with the protected parts of her arms, and he continued to try to poison her. She could hear odd explosions and shouts off in the distance as they fought, and sometimes the ground beneath their feet even rumbled and shook like there was an earthquake. Neither of them could afford to lose focus though, so Sade concentrated, deciding to finish the battle as quickly as she could so she could go check on her friends. She'd been here too long already.

Finally, Six left himself open when he sent both whips to wrap around one of her ankles. As he threw her into the air so he could slam her back to the ground, Sade created a foothold for herself in midair with her free foot. Now having something to balance on, Sade grasped the whips in her hands and pulled as hard as she could. Six didn't have time to question what was happening before he was flying through the air, apparently unwilling to let go of his weapons. She turned and crashed him into the ground as hard as she could, before leaping down after him — fangs bared and claws gleaming in the light.

Already dazed from hitting the ground so hard, Six could only whimper as he saw the image of an enraged predator bearing down on him. She landed hard on his stomach, knocking the air out of him. The smaller claws on the tips of her toes dug in and he groaned in pain before she finished him with a final blow from Horo. As she stood over him, Sade flexed her claws and for a moment imagined slashing him further with her claws..ripping and tearing…

Sade blinked and took a step back, panting lightly. What the hell was that? She glanced around the clearing, guiltily checking to see if anyone had witnessed her moment of distraction. She was still alone, and let out a sigh of quiet relief. I've haven't had issues with my instincts since I was a child. I guess I need to pay more attention.

Dropping back into her human form, Sade turned as her ears picked out the sound of someone approaching the clearing. She didn't want to engage in another fight with her predator instincts so close to the surface if she could help it, so Sade ducked behind the strange white dome from earlier before she could be spotted.

"Of course I'll find bigger and better prey than that moss head! He'll probably get lost on the way ba— What the hell happened here?!" Sanji cut off his own rant when he stepped into the clearing and saw trees knocked down, craters scattered across the area, and the crumpled heap of an unconscious man.

"Sanji?" Sade called to him, poking her head around the side of what she now saw was a small room. "What have you been doing?"

"Sade-chan! Are you alright? What's going on here?" Sanji immediately turned to concern upon seeing her and his eyes flitted over her figure, checking for injuries as he walked toward her.

"I'm fine," she said with a lazy smile. He began to twirl and gush in delight and she almost felt guilty for having to cut him off. "We do have a problem, though. The Broken Workers people are on the island. I beat up this guy but four others left to go catch the other targets."

Sanji sobered quickly after hearing this. "Nami-san and Vivi-hime are in danger?! I have to go help them!" He looked about ready to charge off, so Sade quickly laid her hand on his arm to stop him. "Hm? Sade-chan is there something else?"

She gestured to the white room they were standing beside. "The Broken Workers left this here. It might be important and I'm no good with strategy and investigation things, can you help me look at it?"

Sanji seemed all too thrilled that she'd asked for his help, as he gently took her hand that was resting on his sleeve and tucked it into the crook of his arm as they walked into the tiny room, chatting all the way about how excited he was. "Thanks for helping, Sanji," she sent him another grin and laughed when he placed a hand on his chest and staggered back a bit.

Their focus was drawn back to the moment, however, when a transponder snail in the room woke up and began to ring. Sade froze and gestured for Sanji to answer, knowing that wouldn't fool anyone if it was left to her. He grinned back at her and picked up, so she turned her attention away and began to examine the room. Everything inside is also white, and it all smells like wax. Maybe it's a devil fruit power? Oh! Tea!

With a happy smile, Sade settled herself in one of the chairs and fixed herself and Sanji a cup of tea. She sipped on it while she waited for him to finish his call. He had a serious look on his face, so she just passed over his cup and busied herself with staring out the window. A few minutes in, there was a burst of activity as the same vulture from before with the otter on its back flung something through the window at them and attacked. The otter tried to scratch at her face with its claws, but it didn't even manage to get close before Sanji's foot collided with its face and sent it soaring into a tree. He then did the same to the vulture without taking a pause in his phone call. Sade just glanced across the clearing to ensure they were unconscious, and went back to her tea.

Sanji hung up the transponder snail shortly after that, and she turned her attention back to him. He was holding up an eternal pose with a little grin on his face. "So what happened?" She murmured through a yawn.

"Oh Sade-chan! You're so cute when you're sleepy!" Sanji stared at her with hearts in his eyes for a moment, until he registered the cup of tea she'd left on his side of the table. "And you made tea for me?! Oh, my heart could stop at this moment and I wouldn't have a single regret!" He swooned and she just smiled at him.

Sade decided patiently waiting was her best bet when interacting with Sanji. It seemed he would eventually run out of steam with his fawning, and he looked so happy that she didn't have the heart (nor the energy, frankly) to try and rush him. He soon calmed down and joined her at the table while they sipped at their tea.

"That was Mr Zero on the phone," Sanji began to explain after a nice moment of calm. Sade's eyebrows lifted at the news. Yes, very glad I didn't take that call. She confirmed.

"He assumed I was one of his lakeys and asked me about the status of the targets, so I went ahead and informed him that our whole group is dead. Hopefully that'll stop them from chasing us, for a while at least. He even sent us an eternal pose to Alabasta, so we'll be ready to go once we catch up with the others!" He explained.

Sade hummed. "Okay, so what do we do now?" Strategy really wasn't her thing.

"If you're finished with your tea, we should go join up with everyone else. I want to make sure the ladies are alright!" She agreed and they made their way out of the wax room and Sade led them in the direction she'd heard all the chaos coming from earlier. It had been quiet for a while, and she hoped that meant they'd won their fights and were waiting for her and Sanji now.

As they walked, she remembered something from earlier and pulled out a small sack from Koinu's food pouch. "Here," she said, stuffing the pouch into his hands. "I sniffed these out earlier, figured you could use them."

Sanji stared at her with his mouth hanging open just for a moment before he snapped it closed and peered into the bag. His cigarette fell out of his mouth when he saw the small truffles she'd filled it with. "Sade-chan! These are amazing and rare truffles that are usually quite expensive! I can really cook with these?"

"Sure, it's not hard to find them with my nose," Sade blinked slowly at him and smiled. Sanji tucked the pouch into his jacket's pocket with the utmost care, and they continued toward their friends.


End file.
